Of Brown, Black, & Red
by fromidam
Summary: A Soulsilver Nuzlocke, plot summary inside. SilverxOC / Soulsilvershipping you could say. NEWEST CHAPTER: Azalea Gym
1. Prologue

**Plot summary:** Follow Sy as she runs away from home, starting her adventure with her father hot on her trail, dead set on bringing her back. As she gets deeper and deeper into her adventure, her oppressive upbringing causes her to make a rebellious choice that infuriates her father and her rival, Leon, for different reasons. While trying to obtain the freedom she's always craved and become the person she wants to be, she may end up becoming trapped forever in something from which she can't escape.

_If I had had to describe myself with one word, I would have chosen 'restless.'_

_I had lived in the same small boring town in the same plain house for as long as I could remember. Everyone I knew had lived in the town for as long as I could remember. I couldn't remember a day when I had something new, interesting, or exciting to do, and it was something I craved and desired above all else, even owning a Pokemon – because owning a Pokemon was just one of many things that could change the way my life was going, and I didn't want to limit myself._

_After all, having a cop for a dad and a mom that hates Pokemon doesn't make for good odds at getting a Pokemon and starting your adventure before you move out._

_That didn't mean I wasn't going to try though. I was tired of sitting around and waiting, and there's one thing about oppression: it gives you lots of time to think about how you're going to rebel in the most bad-ass way possible._

* * *

><p>Hello there people, and welcome to my SoulSilver Nuzlocke =) I've decided to give this a shot after being inspired by Cantarella of Odile's story, Last Train Home: A Platinum Nuzlocke. It's amazing, you guys should read it.<p>

I've been planning this fic for a couple of months now, making notes on the plot and such. I have some great ideas that will make for an interesting and engaging plot, so I hope you guys enjoy my story!

The rules I will be following are as follows:

-If a Pokemon faints, it must be permanently boxed.

-Only the first Pokemon encountered on a route may be caught, via the follow rules: it is the first time going through the route with Pokeballs, and there is no Pokemon of the same evolution line still alive. If it is knocked out, there's no second chance for that route.

-Shinies, if encountered, may be caught regardless of the rule above. Also, legendary Pokemon may be caught regardless of the above rule, but cannot be used if they were not the first Pokemon encountered on the route.

-Nickname all Pokemon (though I usually do anyways).

-Switch to items-only healing at some point.

-If I white out but still have living Pokemon boxed, I may continue using the boxed Pokemon.

-Fly and Surf may only be used outside of battle if the Pokemon is realistically big enough to support/carry me (watch me get screwed over by this rule, it's probably going to happen). Note that the surfing Pokemon need only be able to support my weight and keep my head above water if I'm in the water with it.

-Repels are totally legit.

I will be playing as the girl character, and you can imagine my outfit and appearance as such until changes are mentioned.

Stay tuned for the first few chapters, they should be coming very soon ^_^ (and are going to be very, very long)


	2. Day 1: Soren and Mr Pokemon

The day my life changed seemed like any other day at first. I stayed in bed until my mom told me to get up, I got dressed into my same old clothes, and had frozen pancakes for breakfast as I always did. It promised to be another day full of nothing, nothing, and more nothing. Our TV was broken, as it had been for a year, and my dad was out working who knows where.

After eating breakfast I plopped myself into a chair across from my mom, who was doing Sudokus. "I'm bored," I said.

"Jared came looking for you while you were asleep upstairs," my mom said, looking up from her puzzle. "He said to come find him, something about David needing help with something."

By David my mom meant Professor Elm. Everyone in New Bark knew each other by first name; there were only a dozen of us, so everyone was fairly close.

I sighed, and stood up. "Fine, I guess I'll go find him." I actually wasn't planning on looking for Jared – after growing up with him and having to deal with him for sixteen years, I was tired of him and he annoyed me to a fairly large degree.

I squinted my eyes at the bright sunlight when I walked outside. It was the end of spring: the cold spells had ended, but the intense heat of summer hadn't arrived yet. Days were pleasant, and the nights were getting warmer week by week. I told myself for the hundredth time that next time I went into town with my mother I'd have her buy me a pair of sunglasses, but who knew when that would be – now that I had stopped growing there was no need to go anywhere for clothes, according to my parents. I had to get by with two identical copies of the same outfit, which had been all we could afford last time we went shopping because we had still been paying off hospital bills from my dad's last on-the-job "incident."

I hadn't taken more than a step away from my house before I was cornered by Jared and his Marill. "Hi Sy!" he said with way too much happiness. "Professor Elm has a task for me to do past Cherrygrove, do you want to come with me?"

Just what I needed, I thought with sarcasm, then realized I could use this to my advantage. "Sure, but would you mind if I stayed in Cherrygrove while you did whatever it is you need to do? There are a few things I want to buy."

"Typical girl," he said with a roll of his eyes, before he saw my fist clench. He took a step back, lifting his hands in defeat. "Geez, sorry. But yeah, that would be fine. Go grab your money."

"Yeah, that would help," I rolled my eyes back at him before turning to go back inside. "Mom, can I have some money to buy a few things in Cherrygrove? Jared has something to do past there and is taking me."

"Alright dear," she said, getting up from her seat at the table and taking some money out of the money jar. She handed me 100д. "Is that enough?"

_No_. "Yes, thanks." So much for buying anything, guess some sunglasses would have to wait. I had 600д of my own money in my bag, but I wasn't going to spend that on clothes of all things. I'd just add the 100д to my savings and wait until I went shopping with my mom and she realized how much things actually cost these days. "See you later."

"Have fun!" she said with a smile, going back to the table. I turned and glared at the door before opening it and putting on a neutral face, ready to face Jared for an extended period of time.

He said we had to go to Professor Elm's lab so he could find out what he needed to do. We walked over there in silence.

When we got there Professor Elm was waiting for us. Well, waiting for Jared. He seemed kind of surprised to see me, since I hadn't come to the lab in ages. Back when his research was practical observation I used to help take care of his Pokemon, but a few years ago he got rid of them so he could work more on theoretical research. He sometimes had a few Pokemon temporarily, but nothing like before. Anyway, he got over his surprise quickly and seemed quite happy that I was there.

"Nice to see you again Sy, Jared," he said, and looked back at me. "Sy, you don't have a Pokemon yet, do you?"

"No sir," I said with an inward sigh. "My parents -"

"Yes, I understand," Professor Elm said, nodding. He had been to many a dinner party and had to listen to my father's stories and opinions. "Your father is opposed to you going out on a Pokemon 'adventure' as they're called, but I doubt he would mind if you ran an errand for me to Cherrygrove."

"Isn't that what you wanted me to do, Professor?" Jared asked with slight worry in his voice.

"I have something else I need your help with, Jared, something that needs – more Pokemon experience. Yes. I'll get to you in a minute," he said, but I could tell he made the excuse up on the spot. I wondered why, but then remembered the last time Jared had run an errand for Professor Elm. It didn't end very well for his parents' house, let's just put it that way. "Now Sy, I'll lend you one of my Pokemon for today. It will accompany you on your errand. Their levels are higher than the wild Pokemon in the area, so you shouldn't have any trouble fighting your way through the tall grass. Go ahead and pick one."

I walked over to the machine with three Pokeballs on it while Professor Elm spoke with Jared behind me. I didn't hear them – I had been waiting for this moment for a very, very long time, and I was completely focused on the Pokeballs in front of me. Even though I would only be borrowing it, one of these Pokemon would be my first Pokemon.

I looked at the screen beneath the first Pokeball – a Cyndaquil. It's eyes were closed for some reason, but it was clearly awake, which was odd, but I knew that there were a lot of Bug type Pokemon in the area and a Fire type would be useful. I pressed the button to view the next Pokeball – a Chikorita. I skipped over it immediately; too cute, plus it wouldn't stand a chance against the multitude of Pidgey and Hoothoot that nested near the town. The last Pokeball contained a Totodile. I considered it, its teeth looking very promising, but I remembered the task at hand and knew that a Cyndaquil was best for travelling through this area. I flipped back to that Pokeball and released the Pokemon.

The Cyndaquil landed on its feet lightly on the ground beside me. It looked up at me – or its head raised itself as if it were looking at me – but its eyes remained closed. I'd have to figure out what was up with that.

I turned to look at Professor Elm, who had apparently finished talking with Jared because Jared was nowhere to be seen. "So you chose Cyndaquil? I had a feeling you would. Would you like to give him a nickname?"

"It's a boy?" I asked, looking down at the Pokemon that was now sniffing my shoes. I tossed a few syllables together in my mind, and came up with "Soren. His name will be Soren."

Professor Elm nodded. "Alright, now that you have a Pokemon I'll tell you what I need done. I have an old friend, Mr. Pokemon, who has apparently made a great discovery. My aide and I are very busy here, so I need you to go to Mr. Pokemon's house north of Cherrygrove City and see what he's found. It's not very far and there are signs pointing to his house, so it should be easy enough."

"Sounds good," I said with a small smile. I just wanted to get away and get started on the best day of my life, but I didn't want to alarm Professor Elm with my eagerness to get away. "Is that all?"

"Yes, I believe so," Professor Elm said after a pause. "Well, no sense delaying, you best be off!"

"Alright, see you later," I said before turning and walking towards the door of the lab. Partway there I was stopped by Professor Elm's aide.

"Your Pokemon may be stronger than the Pokemon in the area, but it's still fairly weak," he said. "Take these Potions so you can heal it if necessary." I nodded to him in thanks, putting the bottles into my bag, and proceeded out of the lab.

The moment I stepped outside I was intercepted by Jared again. "Hey Sy! Which Pokemon did you choose?"

Soren peeked out from behind my legs at the boy in front of us.

"The Cyndaquil! It's a cute Pokemon. Well, have fun, I'm off on an important mission for Professor Elm!" he said, running off.

"O-kay," I said out loud, raising an eyebrow at Jared's departing figure. "Whatever," I said with a shrug, turning my head to look down at Soren. "All the better to not have him around today. Ready to get going, bro?" he nodded in affirmation. "Alright then, we're off!" I said. I started on my way confidently towards the only exit of New Bark, the path I had never been able to travel alone. I was only five steps in when -

One of my mom's friends spotted me and stopped me, telling me to go show my new Pokemon to my mother. Umm, no, that wouldn't end well, thanks, I'll just be one my way. But no. Even when I waited until her back was turned, she always managed to stop me.

After the fourth time I huffed and moved away from the path to think of a plan. Showing my mother a Pokemon that "belonged" to me, even if it was temporary, was out of the question. I leaned against a tree as I thought. _That's it_.

I turned to look behind me into the trees. The forest here wasn't too thick; there were no paths, but walking would be easy regardless. I glanced over to see that I couldn't even see my mom's friend from where I was standing. If she did try to stop me I'd just make a break for it.

I turned back to take my first step into the brush, but right in my path stood a boy I had never seen before. He was a couple of inches taller than me – but I'm pretty tall to begin with – with vibrant red hair that reached his shoulder. He wore dark blue cargo pants and had a black jacket with red trim. His liquid silver eyes stared into my brown ones.

"Give me your Pokemon," he said. His voice sent a shiver down my spine that was oddly pleasant for some reason.

"What? No," I said, crossing my arms. Soren hid behind my legs, peeking out from behind to "look" at the strange boy in front of me.

He took a step closer to me, looking down slightly at me. "Give him to me. Now."

I looked him straight in the eyes, raising an eyebrow and smirking. "You picked the wrong person to try and intimidate, you know."

I saw his face muscles twitch towards a frown, but he kept his poker face. "Just give me your goddamn Pokemon and I'll leave you alone."

"Not happening," I said. "Besides, he's not mine. I'm borrowing him from Professor Elm for the day, and he kept Soren's Pokeball, so even if I gave him to you he wouldn't listen."

He searched my face. Growling, he pushed me back. I didn't fall far because I was only a couple of feet from a tree, but once I had regained my posture the boy was gone. I flicked some bark off my back, and looked down at Soren who was gazing up at me curiously. I shrugged at him, smiling lightly. "He's weird, but let's forget about him and get to work. To Cherrygrove!" I said, pointing into the forest. Soren looked in that direction, his eyes still closed. I moved my hand to point in the other direction, and his head followed my movements. "How can you see with your eyes closed?" I asked, bending down to pick him up. He shrugged his tiny shoulders before I reached under them to pick him up. He dulled the flames on his back so I could carry him comfortably. Taking a final glance over my shoulder to make sure the coast was clear, I started into the woods.

-x-

I watched the girl – whom the boy had called Sigh? – talk to her Pokemon from the corner of the lab, out of her sight. I remembered my own confusion at my Cyndaquil's closed eyes-

I closed my own eyes, giving a frustrated sigh. I couldn't think about that, not anymore. It was time to start anew. No excuses. This girl was just an obstacle that I would overcome, and then I'd be able to get started on rebuilding a team.

She said Professor Elm, the person that owned the lab I was standing beside, still had the Cyndaquil's Pokeball. So if I could find the Pokeball, I could track down the girl again, recall the Cyndaquil into the Pokeball, and he would be under my control. Simple.

As I waited for the Professor and the other scientist to leave the main room, I let my mind wander, recalling everything I had observed in this town since arriving the day before. The Professor and his aide would eventually leave the lab room to eat, and would be gone for at least half an hour. I knew that most of the residents never left their homes or their posts outside. The only person I had seen move besides the girl was a very douchy guy with a puny Marill, who had left towards the east, meaning he probably had to go to Kanto for something. _ Hopefully he'll get trampled by a herd of Ponyta or pecked to death by a Dodrio, _I thought with a smirk. _Would serve him right for calling a Cyndaquil 'cute.'_

After about an hour the Professor and his aide left the room for lunch. I waited a couple of minutes to make sure they wouldn't come back for anything, then made my move.

I lifted the window, which was already partially open to let fresh air in, and stepped through. There was a table underneath, so I didn't have to jump down and my exit later would be easy. Jumping off the table with my hand to support myself, I scanned the lab. The only Pokeballs I could see were on the machine that held the starters; no sign of a third. I worked my way systematically through the room, opening every drawer and checking every cupboard.

I had covered almost the entire perimeter of the room when I opened a cupboard, only to have several beakers fall out and shatter on the floor. They must have been shifted while I was trying to force one of the other stubborn cupboard doors closed.

The sound of the shattering beakers rang in my ears until I heard footsteps coming up the stairs beside me. Swearing, I turned to run back to the window.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw the Pokeballs of the other starters. Making a quick decision, I grabbed one as I ran past, praying I hadn't just grabbed a Chikorita. I put the Pokeball in one of my pockets, jumped up on the table and then through the opening in the window.

I rolled a couple of times when I reached the ground outside the lab, then used what was left of my momentum to roll to my feet and sprint into the woods.

Turns out that girl had had a good idea there.

-x-

Soren and I had made it to Cherrygrove without too much trouble. We travelled through the woods most of the way since there didn't seem to be any wild Pokemon there, but near Cherrygrove there was a fence that I didn't particularly want to climb over (I hear barbed wire can hurt a lot), so I turned and walked to the road.

When I got to Cherrygrove there was a man outside the Pokemon Centre who claimed to be giving away running shoes to new trainers. I looked down at my shoes – old and dirty, and utterly useless if I ever had to make a quick getaway from anything. I went over to his table and started to try on some shoes while he told me about the city, the Pokemon Centre...stuff I already knew about from Jared. Eventually I settled on a white pair with bright orange highlights and laces, and I also took a pair of ankle socks to replace my knee-highs. Tossing my old socks and shoes into my bag carelessly, I was pumped and ready to continue.

I was about to leave the booth when the man at the table asked to see my PokeGear. I was suspicious, but gave it to him anyway, ready to grab it back at any moment. Soren sniffed at my new shoes (I guess they smelt weird and synthetic to him) while I waited. The man handed my PokeGear back after a minute, saying he had installed a map card, as well as a small case that was apparently for things called Apricorns. Opening my PokeGear I took at look at the new function – seemed legit. Thanking the man, I went on my way.

I was about to head north when I glanced down at Soren, his eyes still closed. Beside me was a coffee shop. I had an idea.

Ten minutes, 100д, a slushie for myself and a cup of Pokemon coffee later, Soren and I were walking down route 30, his eyes open and alert. My mind was now at ease.

It was quite a ways down the route before we had to go through any grass. We were only a few steps in when a Weedle attacked us. I had never seen a Weedle before – on my journeys with my parents to Cherrygrove we had only ever encountered Caterpie. I knew a counterpart existed, but I had never seen it and thought they lived only near Goldenrod. This surprised and puzzled me, but I pushed it aside to battle.

Soren knew Tackle and Leer. I figured it was best to just spam Tackle, because wasting a turn using Leer probably wouldn't be worth it in number of turns. The Weedle alternated between Poison Sting and String Shot, which allowed Soren to get ahead in damage-dealing, and he hadn't suffered too much damage by the end of the battle. Soren was eager to delve further into the grass and to battle more, but I made him return to Cherrygrove with me to grab some Antidotes from the PokeMart. I knew I was lucky the Weedle hadn't managed to poison Soren, and I didn't want to be caught unprepared if another did manage to deal such a blow. The money I had in my bag allowed me to buy three Antidotes, which I figured would be enough for today's journey, but I'd have to have my parents pay me back for the Anitdotes later - or take the money out of the money jar myself when they weren't around.

Now that I had everything I needed to deal with poison type Pokemon, I took Soren to the Pokemon Centre for a quick heal before venturing back into the grass. Couldn't be too careful, especially since I didn't yet know what other Pokemon lived in the grass.

Soren wanted to charge back into the grass once we returned to the route, but I made him walk with me. The man outside the Pokemon Centre had told me that walking would attract fewer wild Pokemon than running, so I decided to take it slow.

Once we were through the grass I spotted an Antidote on the ground. I moaned at my waste of money at the PokeMart, but grabbed it anyway.

We went through several more battles between Cherrygrove and Mr. Pokemon's house. We ran into a Kakuna, which would have taken forever to defeat if it weren't for Soren getting a nice critical hit. When I saw its shape I was expecting a Metapod, but I guessed that the entire Caterpie line was extinct in the area or something. Weird.

Mr. Pokemon's house was a small, simple building nestled in a clearing which could only be accessed by walking through a bunch of grass patches.

I was greeted warmly by Mr. Pokemon when I walked in and introduced myself. He had been sitting with someone I didn't recognize, but he got up to introduce himself and to get the thing he had emailed Professor Elm about, a Pokemon egg. He also gave me a blanket to use to keep it warm. I held it in my arms, since it would probably get damaged if I put it in my messenger bag, as it hit my hip whenever I walked.

The person Mr. Pokemon had been sitting with got up to come and stand with us. He introduced himself as Professor Oak. I had heard Professor Elm talk about him when he came over to my parent's house for dinner, and I knew he was from Kanto but not much else. Luckily he did most of the talking, asking me if he would help him with his research (seems like I was the Professors' best friend that day) and giving me something called a PokeDex. He said I looked dependable ("More dependable than that Jared kid," Mr. Pokemon had added with a laugh) and that I seemed to be treating Soren with love and care, which I guess I kind of was, never letting his health get too low. Before leaving Professor Oak gave me his phone number, promising that we'd meet again.

After saying goodbye to Mr. Pokemon, I left his house to return to New Bark, all of a sudden sad that my adventure was half over. But Soren was still buzzed from his coffee and ready to get going, which gave me energy as well. We were about to head back towards the grass when my PokeGear rang. _Professor Oak already?_ Nope, it was Jared.

"What?" I said into my PokeGear, walking with Soren towards the grass as I talked.

"Hi Sy, it's Jared." _I know that, I have caller I.D., and so do you, idiot._ "You have to come back here quick. Something's happened at Professor Elm's lab."

"Wait, what's going on?"

"There's no time to explain, just get back here asap," he said, before hanging up. I held up my PokeGear in puzzlement, then closed it and put it back in my bag. I looked down at Soren, who was staring up at me curiously (he had big orange eyes, though they looked a little odd on his small head). "We have to hurry back to New Bark, Jared says something bad's happened," I explained as I bent down to pick him up, which was difficult with the egg still in my arms. He crawled up beside it, wrapping around it slightly and lending it his warmth. "I'm going to run, so hang on."

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes<strong> – I was originally going to have one large introduction chapter, but when the word count of that chapter passed 10k I realized I'd have to split it up. This is the first of three parts of that original introduction chapter; the next two will be coming soon once I'm happy with them.

All that Caterpie vs Weedle stuff is because I've only ever played Gold, so just let me have my confusion and I'll get over it. There will likely be mentions of other Pokemon (or lack thereof) as I notice differences between Gold and Silver.

Chikorita is not actually that bad in my opinion, but doesn't fit with Sy and Leon's characters so they both hate it. Can you really see someone like Leon/Silver walking around with a giant flower Pokemon? Didn't think so.

Soren doesn't talk because I find the excessive "Cynda-cyn-quil-daquil!" in other stories to be annoying, not to mention I find it a pain to write. So no talking Pokemon here. Their actions will speak louder than words would I guess.

Speaking of which, I got better at writing Soren through the course of the day it took me to write the bulk of the first three chapters (8k-ish). That's something that's still noticeable but I opted to leave as-is.


	3. Day 1: Battle and Theft

I sprinted through the grass, running past any Pokemon before they could try and challenge us to a battle. I would have liked to battle some more before returning Soren, but that didn't look like it was going to happen.

Once we got to Cherrygrove I went into the Pokemon Centre so I could get Soren healed quickly. My dad had drilled into my head that you always had to be prepared for anything, so I played it on the safe side and delayed my return for a few minutes. It was common sense to have a fully healed Pokemon, especially since I didn't know what had happened back at the lab.

Once he was healed Soren moved back into my arms, lying with the egg once again. Luckily he didn't weigh much, so running with him hadn't been too demanding.

I walked outside and was just about to start sprinting through route 29 when I saw the red-haired boy from before come out of the trees. Guess he must not have wanted to climb over that barbed wire fence either. He spotted me immediately, glaring and clenching his jaw as he walked towards where I had stopped in surprise. "Ready to give me your Pokemon now?" he asked.

"Did you not hear me the first time? You should get your hearing checked," I said. "Now if you'll excuse me-" I moved to go around him, but he blocked my path.

"Not so fast," he said, looking down at me again. He couldn't do so as well now, because my new running shoes gave me an extra inch of height. "I have a Pokemon too. We're going to battle."

"Says who?" I said, taking a step back from him, ready to make a break for it the moment I saw an opening.

"Says me," he said, bringing a Pokeball out from one of his pockets. "Maybe you're the one that needs to get their hearing checked."

"Why do you want Soren so badly?" I asked, trying to distract him from the idea of a battle. Wild Pokemon were one thing, a trainer was another. By the way this guy held his Pokeball at the ready, I guessed he had experience.

I saw his eyes darken. "None of your business," he said with a glare. "Now let's get on with it!"

This guy was good, he wasn't leaving me any opening. I sighed, and said, "Sorry Soren, I guess we're going to have to battle this loser after all. Let's try and make this quick." I saw the guy twitch when I called him a loser. Soren jumped down from my arms, turned to me and nodded. He got into a battle stance, waiting for the redhead to send out his Pokemon.

"Go, Totodile," he spat – he obviously wasn't too happy about the Pokemon he had to use, or maybe he was just pissed about my loser comment. The blue Pokemon appeared in front of him, a big grin on its face. Seeing Soren, it gave a wave, and Soren relaxed and waved back. But then the redhead gave his Totodile a kick, and said, "Scratch."

Totodile's smile fell, but he complied anyway, running towards Soren (though his run was more like a waddle). Soren was a lot quicker though, and Tackled the Totodile without me even giving the order. Before he was able to get away the Totodile landed a Scratch. "Tackle again Soren, and this time try to jump back faster," I called out to my Pokemon.

"You shouldn't give away your strategy," the guy said. "Totodile, brace against the hit and don't let it get away. Scratch."

"Hypocrite," I said. He sent me a glare as our Pokemon executed our respective commands. They both came out with the exact same amount of damage as the other; they had identical HP.

The cycle continued for several more turns, with Soren Tackling and the guy's Totodile Scratching once Soren got close enough. Their hit points were going down in synch, and I knew I would win because Soren would get in the first hit on the last turn, being faster.

The red-haired guy realized it too, and decided to try a different tactic to save the battle. "Totodile, stay back and use Leer, dodge the Tackle."

Soren faltered slightly at the Leer but kept going, and managed to land a hit before the Totodile could move out of the way. The Totodile seemed surprised, and Soren was able to back away before it could land a surprise Scratch.

After that move the Totodile's HP was lower, and it only took two more turns of Tackle-Scratch before the Totodile fainted from the impact. Soren and I had won.

The redhead didn't seem angry though; he approached the unconscious body of his Totodile, seemingly deep in thought. After he called it back into its Pokeball, he looked at me as I congratulated Soren on his victory. "You got lucky," he said with venom in his voice. "Next time you won't be. I'm going to become the best trainer ever and defeat everyone, you'll see." He threw some money on the ground in front of me. "Here." At that he turned and ran back into the trees on the Cherrygrove side of the fence. I looked after him for a moment, before Soren squeaked up at me, probably wanting to be healed.

"Yeah yeah, we'll go back in and heal you," I said, and he climbed back into my arms. I picked up the money, 500д (score!), only to find a Trainer Card at the bottom of the pile. I looked at it; it belonged to the red-haired guy. I turned when I heard some leaves crunch under someone's feet – he had come back, and stood leaning against a tree with his arms crossed.

We stared at each other for a few moments, before I said, "Here's your Trainer Card, _Leon_." He furrowed his eyebrows, but came forward to snatch it out of my hand. "My name's Sy, by the way."

"It's not my pleasure," he said, and turned to walk back into the forest. I didn't follow him.

-x-

_Shit shit shit._

She knew my name. I made a stupid mistake, and I was sure to pay for it in the future.

I pulled out my Totodile's Pokeball as I walked, glancing at it. It had lost, yes, but Sy's Cyndaquil had been several levels above the Totodile, yet the two Pokemon had been evenly matched. _I'll give it a try for now_, I thought.

-x-

After getting Soren healed a second time we were finally able to head back to New Bark. I ran with him and the egg in my arms, jumping down the ledges without stopping or slowing down. _This is great,_ I thought, the wind rushing through my hair. I had abandoned my stupid (and giant) white hat back in the forest because it kept hitting branches when I ducked under them, and I was glad I did. The wind on my face was thrilling.

I soon arrived back in New Bark, and headed straight for the lab. Just outside the door I was joined by Jared. Soren jumped out of my arms to stand with Jared's Marill. "What happened?" I asked him as I followed him into the lab.

"Someone stole a Pokemon," I heard a familiar voice say from the back of the lab. I looked to see my dad standing with Professor Elm, who looked more dishevelled than usual. My dad was in his uniform, so he was on duty. Figures he'd be the one to investigate something in New Bark and endanger what had so far been the best day of my life.

"I didn't see your car outside," I said as Jared and I walked forward to join my dad and Professor Elm.

"This is my last job for the day, so I flew back here," my dad explained, opening his notepad to a new page. "Now, did either of you see anyone suspicious today?"

"There was a red-haired punk hanging around outside the lab earlier today," Jared said before I had even processed my dad's question. "I bet it was him."

"Did you see anything, Sy?" my dad asked, looking at me.

"Yeah, I saw him too."

"What did he look like?"

"He had long red hair," Jared said. "And a black jacket."

"Where was he exactly?"

"I saw him looking in the window of the lab. I thought he was just some star-struck kid so I didn't say anything," Jared said quickly.

"I saw him in the woods by the lab," I recalled. "And then again just outside Cherrygrove."

My dad's head snapped up from writing on his notepad to stare at me. "And what, may I ask, were you doing in Cherrygrove?"

_Fuck. My life._

"Uhh-"

"She was running an errand for me, Thomas," Professor Elm said, coming to my rescue. "I asked her to go to Herald's house to find out what his latest discovery was."

My dad looked from Professor Elm to me and back again. He released a breath I hadn't realized he had been holding and turned to me once again. "We'll talk about this at home, but back to business. Do you know anything more about this red-haired fellow?"

"He looks like an ass-"

"His name's Leon," I said, then immediately regretted it.

"How do you know?" my dad asked.

"He- dropped his trainer card. I picked it up and returned it to him."

"So he's a trainer. What Pokemon did he have?"

I thought quickly. "I didn't see any Pokeballs on his belt. He might not have had any. He might have just been a beginner." _Yeah, bullshit._

"He was probably hiding the Totodile's Pokeball in case anyone was aware of the theft," my dad said, writing furiously on his notepad. Once he finished he looked up. "Anything else?"

I had done enough damage. "No." Jared shook his head.

My dad nodded, closing the notepad and putting it and his pen into a pocket in his uniform. He wiped at his eyes wearily. "Alright then, I think I'm done here," he said, then looked at me sternly. "When you're done speaking with Professor Elm, come home immediately. You have some explaining to do."

"Yes sir," I said meekly, looking at the floor as he walked out, gripping the egg tighter to my chest, but not tight enough to break it.

"I gotta go too. See ya' Sy, Professor Elm," Jared said with a wave before leaving as well.

Once I heard the door close I looked up at Professor Elm. "Here," I said, holding the egg out to him. "This is what Mr. Pokemon found."

"A Pokemon egg..." Professor Elm said in wonder as he took it in his hands and looked at it. "This is truly amazing. Fantastic. This will have to be extensively studied. Thank you for getting it for me," he said, smiling at me before turning to put the egg on the machine that still held the Chikorita's Pokeball. He turned back to face me. "Did he mention anything else about the egg? Where he found it, anything?"

"No," I said, shaking my head. "But Professor Oak was there." Professor Elm's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "He told me I was taking really good care of Soren, and gave me a PokeDex and said we'd meet again," I said, pulling the device out of my bag. Professor Elm's jaw actually dropped.

"He gave you a _PokeDex_?" he asked in disbelief. "Sy, that's absolutely incredible! Professor Oak is amazing at sensing the potential of beginner trainers. He must be able to tell you're destined for great things."

"I'm sorry Professor, but I don't really believe in destiny and all that jazz," I said.

He dismissed my comment with a wave of his hand. "You really should try to talk to your parents again about leaving on your adventure and taking the gym challenge, it's the best way to go about filling up a PokeDex." I nodded and smiled slightly as he spoke, but I knew that topic was a lost cause, and I think he did too. "How's your Cyndaquil doing?" he asked, changing the subject.

I looked down and found Soren sitting at my feet, looking up as if he had been listening intently. His eyes were still open, but less than before. The coffee must have been wearing off. "Good, he seemed to really like battling. He's gotten a lot stronger too." Professor Elm bent down and picked Soren up, stroking his head as Soren looked up at him through his drooping eyelids.

"How did you manage to get him to open his eyes?" Professor Elm asked with surprise when he noticed.

"Pokemon coffee," I replied with a smile. Professor Elm laughed.

"I would never have thought of that," he said, putting Soren back down. He trotted over to me, rubbing the back of his head against my leg. Remembering my time spent taking care of Professor Elm's other Pokemon, I knew what that meant, and bent down to stroke Soren's head as Professor Elm had. He cooed happily.

"He seems to have grown very attached to you," Professor Elm observed. "Would you like to keep him?"

I looked up at Professor Elm in surprise. "Really? I thought I was just borrowing him...?"

Professor Elm nodded. "I could never take him away from you after what Professor Oak said about you. And it's silly to have him sitting around in a Pokeball all day when he could be with a trainer that loves him. What do you say?"

I nodded eagerly, but then frowned. "My dad might not like it. Actually, I'm positive he won't. Same for my mom." I looked down at Soren sadly, who pushed his head against my hand as I continued to stroke it.

"Your parents don't want you to have a Pokemon because they don't want you to leave home and go on an adventure," Professor Elm said, walking across the room to get something. "As much as I'm opposed to that choice – especially now that you've been given a PokeDex and asked to complete it...Well, I'm sure that if you promise not to leave on an adventure, they'll let you keep him. Cyndaquils don't need much food to be kept happy and healthy." I wasn't convinced. He didn't seem to realize that my mom actually hated Pokemon, not just adventures. "Try proposing it to them, and if they refuse then just give him back to me tomorrow, and I'll hold on to him until you can go on your adventure," he said, handing me a Pokeball. I looked at him, and he gave me a reassuring smile. I smiled back, and stood up.

"Thank you," I said, putting Soren's Pokeball in my bag. "See you later Professor."

"Bye Sy, and good luck!" he said, walking with me to the door. "Oh, I almost forgot!" he said, running over to one of the shelves and coming back with a handful of Pokeballs. "If you're going to start working on filling Professor Oak's PokeDex, you'll need some of these. Tomorrow you can go to the start of route 29 and catch some Pokemon. You'll be close to home, so your parents should be fine with it," he said as he handed them to me and I put them away in my bag.

I thanked him again, then left and headed home with heavy steps. Soren squeaked up at me, gazing up at me in concern. I figured he wanted to know what was wrong. "My parents aren't very pro-Pokemon or adventures," I explained. He kept looking at me, knowing there was more. I looked straight ahead at the woods at the other end of town, secretly seething inside.

I was thinking back to when my dad had been asking Jared and I questions about Leon. When he asked me those questions I told the truth without even thinking, as I had been made to do at home for as long as I could remember. My dad had no patience for stalling and roundabout ways of saying things, so he always made me be quick and to the point.

He had trained me to be the perfect witness from day one.

The most pressing question was why did I even care about exposing Leon and helping the police, but I knew the answer to that without even thinking.

Because he was free. He was living the way I wanted to. Without restriction, doing what he pleased every day with no one telling him anything. I wouldn't take that away from anyone.

Yet I had, or I might have. By helping my dad, I might have screwed him over. And I hated myself for it.

And maybe I found him to be slightly, _slightly_ attractive. I didn't put much weight on that, though, since I knew I had almost nothing to base it on: Jared, and the grandchildren that came to visit some of the older residents at Christmas. Not much.

My feet eventually carried me to the porch of my house, where my parents were sitting, waiting for me. My mom looked absolutely furious, and I could tell my dad was too, though he didn't show it as much.

This was going to be fun.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong> – This chapter got the short end of the stick length-wise when I was dividing up the giant file that was going to be my introduction chapter. The third and final part will be out soon after a few more edit run throughs, and will be closer in length to last chapter.

Also, if you guys notice any typos, missing words etc. that's I've overlooked please let me know, they really annoy me and if any exist I want to fix them asap.


	4. Day 1: Parents and a Plan

My mother spoke first. "What is that – thing at your feet?" My mom hated Pokemon a lot. Especially fire types, because a stray Magmar burned her house down when she was a child. _Yeah, this is not going to go well at all._

Soren looked up at my parents curiously, looking at them from between my legs as I spoke. "This is Soren, the Cyndaquil Professor Elm lent me to go to Cherrygrove."

"If it was lent to you, why do you still have it?" my father asked, his arms crossed.

"_He_ is still here because Professor Elm offered to let me keep him-"

"No."

"Because Professor Oak-"

"No."

"Even if I don't go on an adventure-"

"The answer is no, Sy. Go take it back. There will be no Pokemon in this house," my mother said with an air of finality.

I felt tears fighting their way to the surface. _Don't be weak_, I told myself repeatedly in my head. I looked up and stared them straight in the eyes.

"No. I'm keeping him."

"No, you're not. You're sixteen and still under our control," my father said. "Until you're eighteen, we can choose to not let you have a Pokemon. And we say you cannot. Go take it back right now."

My resolve broke. I could never stand up to my parents for very long. My eyes fell and I stared at the stairs below them as I spoke. "Professor Elm said that if you said I couldn't keep him, I could bring him back in the morning. I think he was done for the day."

"Take him back anyway-"

"No," my dad stopped my mom. He turned his head to look at her. "His lab was broken into today, I don't know if you heard. He's probably exhausted. Let's not bother him tonight." He looked back at me. "Where's its Pokeball?"

I tried to figure out if there was a way around disclosing my possession of Soren's Pokeball, but I couldn't think of anything fast enough so I opened my bag and pulled it out.

Mistake.

"What's in your bag?" my dad asked, walking down the steps to stand beside me. I tried to close my bag but he grabbed it from my shoulders and turned my bag upside down, making me drop Soren's Pokeball in the process. My PokeGear, Potions, Antidotes, Pokeballs, as well as my socks and other pair of shoes fell to the ground with resounding thuds, and the bills I had received from Leon floated to the ground and scattered slightly. Luckily there was no breeze. I looked up at my dad's face, not understanding what had angered him so much. But whatever it was seemed to have been forgotten as he bent down and picked up the scattered money. "Where did you get all this?" he asked, holding it up to me.

I grabbed it and my bag out of his hands before he could pull them out of my reach. Holding the money to my chest, I said, "I won it."

"How?" my father asked, narrowing his eyes.

"In a battle."

"With who?"

I gulped. I had screwed myself over again. "L-leon."

"You BATTLED HIM?" my father roared, now completely furious.

"Dad, I-"

"THIS is why you're not allowed to go on an adventure," he yelled. "This world is dangerous, there are criminals everywhere. You can't even go to CHERRYGROVE without running into one. He could have hurt you, or worse!"

"But he didn't-"

"First thing tomorrow you are returning that Pokemon of yours," he said, turning to go inside. "And if I hear one peep about you going on an adventure or going any further west than Professor Elm's lab, there'll be hell to pay." He went inside and slammed the door shut behind him.

There was silence between my mother and I for a minute. "You said you were going to Cherrygrove with Jared," she said finally.

"That was the plan, but Professor Elm had something else for Jared to do so he asked me to go instead."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you wouldn't allow me to go."

My mother's eyes hardened. "And there's a damn good reason for that. You could have been hurt today."

I was about to say that Leon hadn't been violent in the least, then I remembered him pushing me and kicking his Pokemon. I decided to not risk digging myself into a hole I wouldn't be able to get out of if I said the wrong thing. "Whatever, I had _fun_. Ever heard of that? Because I hadn't until today." I stomped up the stairs and went through the door, slamming it as well.

I went straight up to my room, not bothering to grab any food – I heard my father in the kitchen anyway, so that would have been a bad idea. I wasn't hungry anyway. I wanted to slam my door but decided against it, inching it closed instead. Once it clicked shut I put my back to it, leaning against it as I slid to the floor. My bed was just too far away at that moment.

I put my head in my hands. The tears that I had felt earlier were still there, but only one came out. It hit my hand immediately, spreading out and making my palm wet. Removing my hand I wiped the water off on the bare skin of my leg, looking at my new shoes and starting to play with the laces with my hands. I rested my chin on my knees, staring at the floor in front of me.

Soren trotted into my line of sight, plopping down in the spot I had been staring at. I looked at his face, his eyes now closed. He cocked his head to the side and cooed. I reached out a hand to stroke his head. "I'll be okay, Soren," I told him and myself. "I'll give you back tomorrow, but I'll come and see you every day, promise." Soren shook his head, dislodging my hand. "I don't like it either, but my parents do legally have control over me-" the flames on Soren's back grew bigger momentarily. "I hate it to, but short of running away-" I stopped. After a moment, I smiled a true smile. I stood up, taking my bag off my shoulder and throwing it on my bed. Soren squeaked at me in confusion but I ignored him, heading straight for my drawers.

All they held were my undergarments, pyjamas, and my second pair of day clothes. I grabbed a handful of underwear and rolled them up as small as I could, placing them at the bottom of my bag. I left my socks – I wasn't going to be wearing knee-highs anymore. I'd get some more ankle socks when I got the chance. I pulled out a pair of pyjama shorts and rolled them up to, throwing them in as well. When I turned back towards my drawer I saw my reflection in the mirror on my wall. My hand moved to go through the hair of one of my pigtails.

I walked over to my desk and took the scissors out of the bin of tools. Walking back to stand in front of the mirror, I snipped one pigtail off, and then the other. It took a bit of work since my hair was fairly thick, but I managed two clean cuts. I placed both clumps of hair, held together by the elastics that had held them in place moments before, on my dresser as I worked with my shorter hair. I gave myself some crooked bangs (cutting your own hair is harder than you think), trimmed the hair at the back of my neck, and then trimmed around my ears, leaving the hair long enough to cover them so they'd be out of the sun in the months ahead. Then I grabbed clumps of hair at the back of my head and did a crude job at layering my hair. All the while I was placing the pieces I cut off on the dresser in front of me until there was a substantial pile. I looked at myself hard in the mirror, nodding in satisfaction. I could barely recognize myself.

I continued packing. I added in a t-shirt for sleeping, long underwear (I didn't want to waste space with sweatpants), and an old hoodie that was falling apart at the seems but was warm regardless. I grabbed an umbrella from my closet, as well as my old sleeping bag. The sleeping bag wouldn't fit in my bag, though, so I had to put it back. I'd have to buy a new one that would fit later on.

With all my planned future purchases in mind (an entire new wardrobe, in order to be unrecognizable), I deemed myself done once I put in a plastic sleeping sheet and a large down blanket that was all air and folded up into almost nothing.

I looked out my window. The sun was setting, but that wasn't what I was looking at. I was looking at the lack of trees to climb down from.

Of course my parents would give me the only room in the house not bordering on the forest. Of course. Had they planned every aspect of my life as a parent-abiding puppet from the day I was born?

I started to think through things logically, hoping to find a viable option for my escape later on that night. My parents went to bed early, around nine or nine thirty. They were usually snoring by ten fifteen. Any slight creaks or other noises I made would probably go unnoticed as long as I was quieter than them. I'd need to go in front of the house to retrieve the things my father had dumped out of my bag, but their room faced the forest to the north so there was no danger of them seeing me. I'd also need more money.

I opened my desk drawer and pulled a box from the back. Opening it, I pulled out all the money it contained, then put it back. I counted the bills – 2400д. I had spent the 600д I had in my bag on Antidotes earlier that day. With Leon's 500д, I was just shy of 3000д. I decided not to risk taking any from the money jar downstairs – I'd be fine until I started battling trainers, or at least I hoped I would. _I'll make it last_, I thought as I put all my money into a zippered pocket in my bag. Zipping it shut, I glanced around my room again.

My eyes came to rest on the pile of hair on my dresser. I couldn't leave it there; if my parents found it they'd know I cut my hair and my stealth advantage would be reset to zero. I took the hair that was not held by an elastic and scattered it out my open window, the breeze that had picked up carrying it away from my house. I took that opportunity to look down the side of my house and assess my escape options.

Right outside my window was part of the roof. It descended for about five more feet before dropping off at the edge. I guessed the drop from there would be no more than ten feet, likely less. As long as I hung from the edge of the roof and then dropped down I'd only fall about four feet. Any other day this would have seemed like a lot to me, but I remembered the ledges I had jumped earlier in the day in my rush back to New Bark, and the four feet no longer seemed intimidating in the least.

I smiled, turning away from the window and surveying my room, trying to identify anything else that I might need. My laptop was tempting, since it tended to be my main companion through the long days, but I knew it would just be dead weight. I grabbed all my memory sticks from my desk and proceeded to backup all my data, deleting what I wouldn't want my parents to see but leaving most of it so it wouldn't look suspicious. Once that was done I put my memory sticks in the same zippered pocket as my money.

I considered taking my old watch, but decided I wouldn't need it. I'd live by the sun, and if I really needed to I'd take out my PokeGear to check the time. This reminded me to pack my PokeGear's charger and extra batteries, and I threw in a few extra AA and AAA's to power anything I might acquire later on. Like a flashlight. I threw in my windup one that doubled as a radio. _Multipurpose, I like it_. There wasn't much else in my room – my eyes fell on my old small Snorlax plushie, and I debated bringing it along as I went through my closet full of tidbits and camping supplies. I threw a pack of lighters over my head and heard it land in my bag on top of the battery boxes – nice shot – and a tube of lotion for bug bites – it hit the wall beside my bed then bounced down onto my pillow. I debated taking a giant bottle of gel to treat sunburns, but grabbed a small empty shampoo bottle and filled it up instead to save space. I figured I wouldn't need it once I had a tan. Speaking of which, I pulled out a bottle of old sunscreen that expired five years ago. I decided to wait until I got to a store and could buy something new that didn't smell like shit. I'd deal with any burns that occurred before then. I also pulled out a water bottle, albeit an empty one.

Putting all the camping stuff back into its box I stood up, closing my closet doors. I arranged the contents of my bag, putting what I could in exterior pockets to save space in the main compartment for the items I would soon retrieve from the ground in front of my house. I was glad I had opted away from the sleeping bag – I had space to spare. _All this wouldn't be a problem if we still had PC storage_, I thought with a pout. Several scandals and hackers had caused the technology to fall out of use back when I was little, and the people who had been developing it went bankrupt from lawsuits. _A shame, really_.

I looked back at my dresser at the two clumps of hair that still remained there. Fishing a plastic bag out from my desk drawer, I put them in the bag and put it in my bag to be dealt with later.

I realized with a groan that I didn't have any shampoo, or toothpaste or any other bathroom stuff for that matter. I debated risking a trip to the bathroom to retrieve some, afraid my parents would come upstairs and see me with my haircut, but decided against it. Another thing to buy when I got to a store; a list would probably have been a good idea.

I looked up at the clock on my wall – eight forty five. It was mostly dark out now, with only a slight halo of dark blue sky showing where the sun had set. Most stars were already visible.

My stomach rumbled. I remembered that I hadn't consumed anything since early afternoon, and now that the anger from speaking with my parents had faded I realized that I was really hungry. I reached under my bed and pulled out a bag of chips I had stolen from the pantry. Soren, who had been watching me pack from atop my desk, jumped down and walked over to me as I munched on the chips. I offered some to him, but after a quick sniff he turned his head away in disgust. "More for me," I said with a laugh. I stopped when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Pushing the bag back under my bed and jumping to my feet, I ran on my tiptoes to the wall by my door and flicked my lights off, then stepped onto my bed, moving my bag out of my way before sitting down. Placing my bag on the floor under my night table, I lifted the covers of my bed and pushed myself into them one last time, running shoes and all.

I wouldn't be enjoying the comfort of a bed for quite some time. But that was fine with me; if my waking hours were spent outside, battling Pokemon with Soren and doing as I pleased, I could deal with discomfort. As I lay in my bed staring up at the ceiling waiting for my parent's telltale snores to begin, I fingered my hair – it was so short and light, a strange feeling. It would be very easy to manage, though – tangles would be minimal. Speaking of which, I opened the drawer of my night table and pulled out a small hair pick I used to use when playing with different hairdos years ago in my girly years. It would work fine. Closing the drawer quietly, I leaned over the edge of my bed and put the pick into one of the outside compartments with the shampoo bottle of sunburn gel so it wouldn't get broken in half.

Pulling my body back onto my bed, I settled in so that the blanket was covering most of my head, so if my mom peeked into my room she wouldn't notice my missing hair. I felt a weight on the blanket; Soren had jumped up onto the bed, the fire on his back dulled to a very faint glow, and settled in beside me. "We won't be here for long, bud," I whispered, but he snuggled into the blanket anyway, passing his ever-present heat on to me.

I lay awake with my eyes wide open, staring at the wall opposite my bed. Now that I had time to think about what I was doing, I truly realized what was happening. I was running away from home. I'd be on the run, because I knew my dad would follow me and track me down. I started to get a strange, nervous feeling in my stomach. I'd have to cover as much ground as possible tonight. I reached down and unclipped my PokeGear from my bag, and checked the map. Past Mr. Pokemon's house was route 31, and not far past that was Violet City. _Getting to route 30 before morning should be possible_. I could sleep in the forest, then carry on once I woke up. Returning my PokeGear to its place on my bag, I continued to wait.

It seemed like forever before my parents finally settled into bed and started to snore. I wanted to get going immediately, but made myself wait five minutes just to be on the safe side. Once the five minutes had passed, I lifted my arms out from under the blankets. "Soren," I whispered, tapping his head. He lifted it wearily. "Time to get going bro." He shook his head. "I'll carry you. Come on, we need to get going." I lifted him into my arms and got out of bed. I was about to start making it like I always did, but stopped myself. _Why should I?_

With a grin I picked up my bag and walked over to the window, holding Soren with one arm. I pushed it open all the way without a sound; the window only ever creaked when it was being closed, which I was now thankful for. _Won't ever have to worry about that again,_ I thought as I crawled through the window, barely fitting. I almost lost my balance once, but was able to steady myself before something bad happened.

Once clear of the window I sat on my roof for the first time ever, enjoying the feeling and the unobstructed view of New Bark. If I had my way, I wouldn't be coming back for a long, long time – maybe never. I placed Soren, who now seemed completely alert (despite the fact that his eyes were closed), on the roof beside me. "I'm going to climb off the edge of the roof and hang down," I explained in a hoarse whisper. "Once I'm hanging, you'll either need to climb down my arms onto my head, or wait until I'm down so that I can catch you when you jump by yourself." He motioned towards his own head with one of his stubby arms. "Sounds good. Ready?" He nodded. I nodded back, then inched closer to the edge of the roof with him close behind.

I moved closer until my legs were hanging off the edge. Leaning my upper body against the roof's surface, I braced myself with my arms and turned my body over so that my stomach was on the roof. I lowered myself slowly until I had to grab the edge of the roof and just let the rest of my body fall. _I was born to do this!_ I thought, wanting to laugh but staying quiet. I felt Soren's feet on my hands as he started to inch his way down my arm. "A bit faster would be nice," I whispered to him, my arms starting to hurt from having to support my weight and my hands starting to slip. He hopped from my elbow to my head with a quiet squeak. I breathed a sigh of relief and let go of the roof, falling what was actually more like five feet. I bent my knees fully on impact, putting my hands on the ground for balance before standing up.

I listened for a moment, but all was silent in New Bark Town.

It was time to go.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong> – Just to clarify, Sy's parents are opposed to adventures because of all the horror stories her father has had to deal with and investigate involving teens on their adventures (mugging, rapes, etc.). They don't like Pokemon because as mentioned her mother dislikes them because of her childhood experiences, and Sy's father has seen Pokemon turn on their trainers and hurt them. He does, however, own two station-issued Pokemon because of his job (one for transportation between home and work and one for apprehending criminals).

Also my other "story" Testing 1, 2, 3, 4 will be used as a dump for any scenes I decide to delete from the published chapters.


	5. Day 2: Victor, Kadela, Joseline, & Felni

The leaves of the trees above me rustled with the breeze that blew above, but down in the forest the air was calm and warm despite it being night. I carried Soren in my arms, sleeping soundly.

I hadn't covered much ground since leaving home. On my way through the forest to Cherrygrove – I didn't want to chance anyone on the route seeing me – I had come upon the hat I had abandoned earlier in the day, and knew I couldn't leave it there because it was a clear sign of my direction of travel. I picked it up and backtracked to the forest near the Kanto-Johto border and left it there. While I was there I also disposed of my hair in the lake that separates the two regions. The winds affected the water there because the forest didn't shelter it, and the whitecaps quickly submerged my hair.

I had to look at my PokeGear to find out what time it was (I hadn't considered needing to tell the time at night when I chose not to bring my watch). It was just past three in the morning. I had made my way through the forest in much less time earlier that day, but with my only light source being the quarter-full moon the going was slow.

I hadn't wanted to stop before at least reaching the fence outside Cherrygrove, but my legs were exhausted from a day that had contained much more walking than I was used to, and they were starting to burn. Looking around I found a tree with a large trunk but with few roots sticking out on the ground. I pulled the plastic sleeping sheet out of my bag so that I could sit on it, and settled in. I closed my eyes and leaned my head back against the trunk, breathing deeply and enjoying the scent of the nearby pine trees. Soren snuggled comfortably in my arms.

We were only there for a minute before I heard a strange rustling in the tree above us. It was different from the wind rustling the tree branches; I could hear some scratching sounds as well. I opened my eyes, only to get a face full of debris that fell from up above. I sat up quickly, swearing as I tried to get some of the debris out of my eyes. The absence of my arms and my sudden movement (which probably squished him) caused Soren to wake up with something between a yawn and a squeak before he wiggled out of my lap and looked up into the tree at whatever was up there. I heard more debris fall on my head, and I stood up quickly to get out of the way, my eyes slightly watering from the sting of the other debris. Wiping away the tears, I looked up and saw a Pidgey in the tree looking down at Soren and I. It was poised beside an old nest, from which I guessed the debris had come.

It extended its wings and let out a screech, trying to intimidate us and scare us away. I lifted my hands into the air, saying "We're just resting, we don't want to hurt you." The Pidgey narrowed its eyes before jumping off the branch and gliding down to the ground about eight feet away from Soren and I. Retracting its wings back towards its body, it charged towards Soren in a Tackle. Soren had time to react, however, and was out of the Pidgey's path long before it reached him. As the Pidgey passed Soren Tackled it from the side, knocking the Pidgey to the ground. Before the Pidgey could get back on its feet Soren Tackled it a few more times, hindering its progress. It was becoming noticeably dizzy and disoriented. "Stop, Soren," I ordered when the Pidgey looked about to pass out. I rummaged around in my bag for one of the Pokeballs I had retrieved from in front of my house, and tossed it underhand onto the Pidgey. It opened above the Pidgey, sucking the Pokemon in in a flash of light before closing and landing with a soft thud on the ground. It rolled side to side slightly before it clicked, confirming my first capture.

A giant grin on my face, I walked forward and picked up the Pokeball. I heard a ding come from my bag. It didn't sound like my PokeGear, so I was confused. Looking in my bag, I saw a light on my PokeDex. Pulling it out, I opened it up. On the screen was information about the Pidgey I had just captured. He was a level 2 male with good perseverance and a naughty nature. I snickered to myself. _Good combo_. He also had an ability that gave him better evasion when he was confused. I snickered again.

I released the Pidgey, who flapped his wings when he appeared on the ground in front of me. He was still very weak from his battle with Soren, so I pulled a Potion out of my bag. "Hey there little buddy," I said, getting on my knees so that I was closer to his height, and sprayed him with the Potion. He shook his head to try and avoid the mist, but stayed put. "What do you think of the name Victor?" he raised his head, glaring at me. He kicked some leaves into my face. "Pfft," I said, blowing them away and wiping at my face. "Sorry bro, but you're stuck with me," I said, sitting back down on my plastic sheet. Suddenly feeling cold, I pulled my oversized hoodie out of my bag, watching as Soren conversed with Victor with hushed sounds I could barely hear. Victor chirped back in response to what Soren was saying, raising his wings at times to emphasize whatever point he was trying to make. Once my hoodie was on I snuggled into its warmth, closing my eyes and listening to my two Pokemon talk.

I didn't know how long I had been sitting there before they stopped talking and I felt something pushing at my arm. Opening my eyes and lifting my head, I looked down at Victor, who was trying to nuzzle his way under my arm. I lifted my arm to make space for him, and he snuck in gratefully. Resting my hand gently against his body, I stroked his feathers slowly. I looked over at Soren, who had placed himself over my feet (which were cold, now that I thought about it).

I think we stayed there for another ten minutes. By then my feet had warmed up from Soren's heat, and I was ready to get going and cover a bit more distance before the sun rose. I wiggled my feet to signal to Soren that it was time to go, but he didn't budge – he was sleeping again. I smiled lightly and fished his Pokeball out of my bag, returning him to it so that he could keep sleeping in peace. I looked down at Victor, who was staring up at me with big black eyes. "We're going to get moving, okay?" he nodded, and wiggled his way out from under my arm onto my lap, then jumped onto my shoulder. I was afraid he would hit one of my pigtails, then remembered that I didn't have any anymore. I stood up carefully so as not to dislodge Victor and ran a hand through my hair. After rolling up the plastic sheet and putting it back in my bag, I started walking towards Cherrygrove.

When we reached the fence Victor jumped over it before I could say anything or start to walk around it. Looking down at him I saw that there was quite a gap between the bottom wire and the ground; I'd fit through fine. I took my bag off my shoulder and lifted it over the fence to put it on the ground beside Victor. Getting down on the ground, I crawled under the fence. Once on the other side I wiped at my hoodie, managing to get most of the dirt and leaves off. I bent down to pick up my bag, and Victor used that opportunity to retake his place on my shoulder. We kept moving.

I didn't notice that the sun was coming up until the sky above me started to lighten. Turning to look behind me I saw the east sky lighting up beautifully. Within minutes light was seeping into the trees. The air felt colder as dew formed on the ground, but luckily my running shoes seemed to be waterproof. I still tried to only step where there were no leaves, just to be on the safe side. I couldn't use Soren to warm my feet while I walked.

By the time the sun was up I had passed around Cherrygrove through the trees. I decided to stop and make camp just past the city, my eyelids dropping and my body exhausted. Taking out the plastic sheet and down blanket (which I would likely not need now that the air was warming up), I laid down carelessly, and after wiggling around a bit to make myself comfortable (and making room for Victor under the blanket), I fell asleep within minutes.

When I woke up the sun was directly above my head, shining in my face through the trees above me. I rubbed at my eyes, which still felt slightly heavy. I forced myself to sit up, noticing that I had kicked the blanket off my body while I slept. My movements caused Victor to wake up and chirp at me in annoyance. "Oh shush," I said, crossing my legs as I yawned and stretched. It was quite warm out now with the sun on me, so I pulled the hoodie off and stuffed it in my bag before packing away the blanket and plastic sheet as well. The wind overhead was strong, making the top branches of the trees sway back and forth. Sometimes I'd feel some air movement on my face or feel it brush my hair, but it was minimal. I pulled out my hair pick and brushed through my hair. It was strange when the hair stopped suddenly far before my shoulders, but it made for quick work. After putting it away, I stood up and stretched again. My legs were a little sore from yesterday, so I added painkillers to my mental shopping list.

My stomach was stinging with hunger, so I conceded to the fact that I'd have to go into town long enough to get some food. Returning Victor to his Pokeball, I took off my long-sleeved red shirt and replaced it with the t-shirt I had packed. I put the red shirt and the top half of my overalls (they detached, thank goodness, leaving me with what was essentially jean shorts) into my bag. Satisfied that no one would recognize me if they saw me, I released Victor again and started through the forest towards Cherrygrove.

I decided to go to the coffee shop that Soren and I had visited the day before. I bought a sandwich and milk for myself, a Pokemon mix each for Victor and Soren, and a coffee for Soren. I went back out into the forest to eat so that I could release Soren – I didn't want him out in the town because Cyndaquils were so rare, and his presence would be like a blinking neon sign if my dad questioned anyone.

Once we were all done eating I decided that it was time to continue. Returning Soren to his Pokeball until he was needed, I walked with Victor back towards the road on route 30.

With Soren's help, Victor and I battled our way through the grass along the route (Victor was still a fairly low level, but with Soren's help he got stronger quickly). Being early afternoon, there were many trainers along the route. The first one we battled was named Joey, and he had a lone Rattata. He was easy to beat but was fine with it when he lost, and he was so eager for a rematch that I gave him my phone number. The other trainers were equally easy to defeat, and Victor was able to handle a few of their Pokemon on his own without Soren's help, which made him very proud.

I noticed as I was battling one of the trainers that I could see Mr. Pokemon's house through the trees to my right. It felt good to see something familiar and to get a bearing of where I was compared to where I was the day before.

Near the next patch of grass was a sign that said Route 31. I was puzzled as to why the route number would change where no landmark or other defining feature existed, but shrugged it off. Victor and I were partway through the next patch of grass when I felt my foot catch on something, and before I could regain my balance I tripped. I broke my fall with my hands, and stood up quickly to face whatever had caused me to fall. I saw something yellow mixed in with the tall grass, so I ran my foot near it.

When my foot approached it a Pokemon jumped up – a Bellsprout. It immediately took a defensive, ninja-like stance, its legs far apart and its leaf arms at the ready. I chuckled at the oddness of this, because the Bellsprout's limbs were stick-thin. Then I noticed that there was something yellowy-orange hanging out of the Bellsprout's mouth, and it was wiggling about as if it were trying to escape. I frowned in puzzlement at this. I reached forward to try and grab whatever it was, but the Bellsprout moved its head away from my hand. I followed, and the Bellsprout kept leaning back until it fell on its back. I noticed then that its feet seemed to be stuck in the ground. I bent down to try and remove the object from its mouth, but when my hand approached its face a vine came up out of the ground and hit my arm very hard, drawing a bit of blood.

"Fuck!" I cursed, drawing back my arm and covering the cut with my other hand. "Victor, Tackle it in the head to try and force the object out." Victor did as I told him, slamming the side of his body into the Bellsprout's head. Its eyes widened as the object popped out of its mouth and landed on the ground beside its head.

It was a Weedle. A very small Weedle, about half the size of the ones we had faced earlier. It lay on the ground barely moving and its eyes unfocused. Seizing the opportunity, I pulled out two Pokeballs from my bag and dropped one on the Weedle. It barely put up any resistance once it was inside the ball, and I soon heard a click. I would have picked it up but Victor and the Bellsprout were still battling it out, Victor Tackling the Bellsprout in the head and the Bellsprout whipping him with its leaves whenever he attacked. The Bellsprout's Vine Whip seemed to be a decent attack – even though Victor was resistant to the grass type attack he was still getting quite a beating. The Bellsprout looked very sick though, and I realized that the Weedle must have managed to poison it while it was inside. According to my PokeDex, the needle on a Weedle's head could be used to poison its enemies, so it would make sense. It looked about ready to pass out, so I ordered Victor to stop so I could catch the Bellsprout as well. I put up more of a struggle than the Weedle did, but eventually conceded defeat and the Pokeball clicked.

I released the Bellsprout briefly to give it an Antidote, and once it was healed I looked more closely at the information my PokeDex gave me about the Pokemon I had just caught. The Weedle was a gentle, somewhat vain level three female, and the Bellsprout was also level three and female, but she was quiet and scattered things often. "Welcome to the team Joseline," I said, running my hand over her head gently because she was still weak. "No trying to eat Kadela though, alright?" her eyes fell to the ground in shame. I laughed. "Hey, don't worry about it, I'm not mad or anything. But you should get back in your Pokeball, you look pretty tired." She looked at me and nodded, so I returned her to her Pokeball so she could rest until we reached Violet City. Looking down at my arm I saw that my cut had stopped bleeding for now. I wiped away the extra blood around the cut, then stood up to continue on.

After more grass and more trainer battles the gatehouse between route 31 and Violet was in sight. I was about to head towards it when I spotted Jared through the open window. I ducked into the trees quickly, peaking out through the branches and listening to what he was saying. Victor alighted himself on a branch beside me.

"Well, if you do see her could you give this to her for me?" he was telling the gate guard, pointing to a small device on the counter. "And when she leaves could you give me a call? Here's my PokeGear number," he said, writing it down on a slip of paper.

The guard was nodding, saying "Yeah, sure, no problem," over and over again, so I guessed Jared had been telling the guard the same thing over and over since before I arrived and the guard was getting annoyed.

After repeating himself one more time, I saw Jared turn towards the door leading to route 31. I hid myself behind a large tree trunk as I heard the door open and then close, my heart pounding as my ears followed the footsteps of Jared and his Marill. I noticed Victor glaring at them, and whispered to him not to attack them. He didn't look happy, but obeyed me anyway.

I waited until I couldn't hear them anymore, then peaked out of the trees and saw them walking towards where Dark Cave had been marked on my PokeGear's map. I was glad I had decided to skip it.

I looked back inside the gatehouse and saw the guard standing around looking incredibly bored now that Jared was gone. The device Jared had left for me, as well as the slip of paper with his PokeGear number on it, lay on the counter, untouched. _Perfect_.

I searched the ground for a large rock as I walked through the forest to the other side of the gatehouse. Finding one that fit comfortably in my hand, I pulled my arm back and threw it through the closed portion of the window. Ducking down so as to not be visible from the inside, I ran along the edge of the gatehouse back to the other side where Victor sat in wait for me. Once I heard the guard go through the door on the other side I entered on my side, going straight for the counter and sweeping the items nonchalantly into my open bag before walking casually through the gatehouse and exiting. I heard the guard banging around in the bush looking for whoever had thrown the rock. I continued on without even glancing at him.

The Pokemon Centre was straight ahead, so I went in immediately so that I could get everyone healed up. While the nurse was working she told me about the city while I read a poster about local Pokemon in the area. She said that Bellsprout Tower to the north was excellent for training before facing Falkner, the city's gym leader. I asked her what his speciality was, and she said flying Pokemon. Looking at the poster, I saw that Mareeps were quite common on route 32, west of Violet. _Sounds like a plan_, I thought with a smirk as I waited for the nurse to finish up.

Once they were all healthy I released Joseline, planning to train her while searching for a Mareep. Even though she was healed Kadela still didn't look very good, so I kept her in her Pokeball. I kept Victor out so that he could assist Joseline against strong opponents.

I walked through town quickly, stopping only to grab some food for everyone at a chip wagon. I got some fries and a drink for myself and some Pokemon treats for my Pokemon. I also had them fill up my water bottle for me, and they even added in a few ice cubes to help counteract the heat and sun that were prevalent that day. After thanking them and paying (and adding salt and ketchup to my fries), I carried our food towards route 32 so that we could eat where it wasn't so busy.

We had to pass through another gatehouse to get out to route 32, but the guard didn't give Joseline and I a second glance. I guessed that word didn't pass quickly between gatehouses, or maybe they just didn't care that much about vandalism. _I'm a vandal_, I thought with a thrilled grin as I found a spot where my Pokemon and I could eat that was out of sight of the main road. Breaking rules felt great.

I leaned against a tree as I ate, closing my eyes and enjoying the cooling breeze that was blowing from my right. My bag was on the ground at my feet, laying open from when I had retrieved Soren and Kadela's Pokeballs. Remembering about the gatehouse, I bent forward and pulled out the item Jared had left for me. According to the instructional screen that came up when I turned it on, it was a Vs. Recorder, and would allow me to keep track of battles I had done and people that were looking for rematches. _Useless_, I thought, throwing it back on top of my bag and closing my eyes again. I hadn't slept very well earlier, so it felt good to rest again. My legs were also thankful.

I think I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew I felt something (that wasn't Soren) on my feet and I could hear the sound of rummaging. Opening my eyes I saw Soren, Victor, and Kadela talking idly, but Joseline had her head in my bag and most of its contents were scattered out around her legs. I blinked and sat up straight, looking very confused. "What the hell are you doing, Joseline?" I asked. She looked at me blankly with innocent eyes. I remembered her PokeDex entry: scatters things often. I closed my eyes and exhaled slowly before opening them again, moving forward to start putting things back in my bag. "Please don't do that again Joseline," I said as I threw stuff carelessly back into my bag. "Scatter the leaves or something if you feel the need to cause chaos." She looked to the ground, ashamed again. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be mean," I said, stopping to pat her on the head. "Now, how about we get battling?" She nodded eagerly, standing up to her full height.

I returned Kadela and Soren to their Pokeballs and threw them into my bag along with what was still left on the ground. Giving Joseline one last pat on the head, I was reaching over to grab my bag when I saw it move. "Did you guys see that?" I asked, and Victor chirped in response. Joseline shook her head. My bag moved again, and I heard a high pitched squeak come from inside.

"Did Soren somehow release himself from his Pokeball?" I wondered aloud as I pulled my bag towards myself to look inside. I saw something purple moving underneath my blanket, and I was about to reach in when there was a flash of light and the purple disappeared. A moment later I heard the click of a Pokeball and the ding of my PokeDex. I raised my eyebrows in surprise and confusion, and fished out my PokeDex from the depths of my bag. It had registered a level 4 female Rattata. I ran my hand through the contents of my bag, pulling out each Pokeball in turn until I found one with a Rattata inside. I glanced back at the PokeDex entry. She was relaxed and somewhat of a clown. "Forcing herself on me is seriously not funny..." I lamented the waste of a Pokeball, but planned to keep her with me until we went to the Pokemon Centre. I wouldn't train her though; I still had some standards. I named her Felni so that I wouldn't constantly have to think of her as "The Rattata."

"Well, that was...interesting," I said as I stood up after putting the Pokeball and PokeDex away in my bag. Joseline looked up at me, nodding in agreement. Victor chirped and accidentally hit my head when he spread his wings. "Watch where you put those things bro," I said as I started to walk out of the forest. "I don't want to get stabbed in the eye."

We stayed out there for most of the day searching for a Mareep, but didn't come across a single one. There were Ekans (I thought they could only be obtained in Goldenrod from the Game Corner...), Bellsprout, Rattata, and even one sleeping Wooper (it woke up and ran away when Joseline hit it with a Vine Whip), but not a Mareep to be found.

All that time wasn't wasted, though: Victor learned Gust, and Joseline became a lot stronger by sharing battles with Victor. At one point I was going to trade out Joseline for Kadela and start to train her, but Joseline insisted on staying out and leading the party. As we battled I decided that using Kadela in battles was likely not a good idea anyway – her types made her weak to a lot of things, not to mention that her size would make battling difficult.

At one point I got a phone call from Youngster Joey, claiming that his Rattata must be in the top percentage of Rattata because it's so amazing. It made me smile.

Eventually Victor ran out of PP for Tackle and Gust, and I decided that it was time to head back into town for healing and some food. I was also thinking about taking on the gym even without a Mareep; Victor was up to level 12 and had excellent offence. Even though he wouldn't have a type advantage I was still confident he could take the gym on alone (Joseline was weak to flying type moves, so she was out, and I still wasn't crazy on using Soren in battle).

As Joseline and I walked into town I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of my father or any police officer – my escape would certainly have been noticed by that time, but I had no idea how they would handle searching for me. I went to the Pokemon Centre first, considering having fully healed Pokemon a priority if I had to make a quick escape. Once everyone was healed (and Felni put away in a PC box so I wouldn't have to worry about feeding her) I went back to the same chip wagon as earlier for some food. By then the sun was starting to fall in the sky, the air cooling and the rays no longer as harsh. I had switched out Joseline for Victor at the Centre, allowing him to rest perched on my shoulder as I ate.

After getting my food I walked away from the chip wagon slowly, looking around the city and trying to decide what to do next, whether to go into the forest to sleep, continue on to the next town, or challenge the gym. It occurred to me that perhaps challenging the gym was not a good idea, because if my dad came in later to question people Falkner might mention me (it made me wonder how many challengers they got per day, or even per week).

Victor chirped, tapping the side of my face gently with his wing before pointing to my fries. "You want one bud?" I asked, picking up a ketchup-free one and holding it up in front of his face for him to grab with his beak. He leaned forward and did, lifting his head up so that gravity would make the entire fry fall into his mouth and throat. He gave a happy chirp and I laughed. "This stuff's more expensive than Pokemon food, so you won't be gettin-" I stopped when I saw the door of the gym open and my dad walk out.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong> – I love writing Sy in the forest and nature; I get to apply my knowledge about weather! xP ...I'm an odd one. And dew is dumb, it appears out of nowhere and all of a sudden your shoes are soaked. Grr.

Ahh, too many new Pokemon and not enough stuff happening Dx I promise that there is much more plot (and other exciting things) in the next chapter! (gym battle yay~)

I did catch Kadela and Joseline on different routes (30 and 31 respectively) but writing separate encounters for all my new Pokemon this chapter felt tedious so I decided to combine them. Their original stories can be found in Testing 1, 2, 3, 4.

Interesting typo: Wine Whip

Also, I forgot to mention in the prologue that Leon's hair is closer to that of the rival in the original Gold and Silver (more straight down to the shoulder, and no ahoge) than to the remake's art =) His clothes are the same as the new art, except his jacket closes all the way at the bottom. Also he has silver eyes (as previously mentioned) because the manga is beast.


	6. Day 2: Sprout Tower and Rhine

_...He gave a happy chirp and I laughed. "This stuff's more expensive than Pokemon food, so you won't be gettin-" I stopped when I saw the door of the gym open and my dad walk out._

He was in his uniform, just as he had been the day before when investigating the theft at Professor Elm's lab. He was looking down at his notepad, which he had out. I saw him increase his grip on the notepad in his hand, bending the pages before heaving a sigh and putting it away in a pocket of his uniform.

I swallowed, trying not to panic. I was to the east of the gym, some distance away. There were a few other people walking around at that time, so I wasn't the only person nearby. I turned to my right to walk towards the water behind the Trainer School. I kept my pace, and turned my head away from my father to fuss over Victor, who didn't seem to mind the attention or notice my internal distress. I wanted to run very badly, but I knew that doing so would draw attention to myself, and that if I just blended in he wouldn't give me a second glance.

I heard the swoosh of a Pokemon being released behind me; I turned my head enough so that I could see my dad out of the corner of my eye. He had released his Xatu and was climbing on its back. Within moments they took off, flying behind me towards New Bark.

I stopped at the edge of the water, staring down at it for a few moments, my heart beating quickly and a strange nervous feeling squirming in my chest. The water was calm, as the wind from earlier that day had died down completely. I looked at my reflection in the water lapping against the rocks I stood upon; I still didn't recognize myself with my short hair, my head looking out of place without my pigtails and hat to balance it out. Touching my face I felt slight pain and heat: sunburn. I took a deep, calming breath and dug the bottle of sunburn gel out of my bag and put a bit on my finger, applying it to my face on the sensitive spots. As I moved it cooled my skin, a pleasant feeling after a long day outside.

Returning the bottle to my bag, I straightened, pushing my shoulders back. I looked back to the sky to make sure my father wasn't going to return – the coast was clear. I walked to the gym, my stomach still twisting, but now from nervousness and hesitation. I pushed them down, forcing myself to be confident in my ability to defeat the gym.

I pushed the door open, and stopped in the doorway.

There was nothing in front of me.

The floor and walls were made of dark wood, the ceiling very high. Two statues were the only decoration in the room. There was a man standing in between the two statues, raising an eyebrow at me. "Are you here to challenge the gym?" he asked me.

"Yes," I said, nodding and walking all the way through the door and letting it close behind me.

"Until you have beaten all the trainers in Sprout Tower, Falkner will not face you," he said, crossing his arms.

I paused, furrowing my eyebrows. I decided it was worth a shot. "But I have."

The man laughed. "Don't try and lie. We get word whenever a trainer defeats the last challenger." I opened my mouth to speak. "Don't try and say that they must not have sent the message. Just go and do it. The training can do you only good."

I closed my mouth and frowned, glaring at the man before turning on my heels and storming out of the gym. I had been training all day and my Pokemon were strong. I didn't want to do more training, I wanted to beat the gym so I could move on. "Alright," I said as I sighed, turning the corner of the gym and looking up at Sprout Tower towering high on the other side of the small lake beside the city. "If they call it Sprout Tower, then there's probably – hopefully – lots of Bellsprout. Let's take them out quickly Victor. That's our focus now – speed. The faster we knock them out and move on, the better. Gust'll be super effective against them, so just use that right away, no wasting time on Tackle. Got that?" he nodded, giving a chirp in affirmation. "Sweet, let's roll."

Sprout Tower was dimly lit, the pale light casting shadows against the walls. In the centre was a central support, and there were several people standing around it; why, I didn't know. I asked one person and she said that a giant Bellsprout had once lived inside and supported the tower, keeping it from collapsing due to the training upstairs. I asked her what they were training against, but she shrugged and said she had no idea, she had never ventured upstairs. I nodded and ran a hand through my hair, turning to walk towards the ladder that would lead me to the next level.

Victor and I were quickly bored. Most of the Bellsprout were level three (three! - we had been training against level sixes on route 32), and Victor barely had to pay attention to defeat them. He started using Gust from my shoulder, never straying from his spot. I'd get a bit of the initial wind on my back, but it was nothing I couldn't handle and actually felt nice, because the higher up we got in the tower the hotter the air got. The sages' Bellsprout, however, didn't stand a chance against the wind, falling one by one in quick succession as we made our way through the levels in what was probably record time. The only thing I was happy about was that the sages were all paying well, and my money pocket was filling up fast. Every time I opened it to add more money I smiled.

In the third room I stopped briefly to fix Victor's feathers (they got pushed the wrong way when he unleashed a particularly powerful Gust in our last battle, and he seemed to find it uncomfortable). I placed him on the ground in front of me so that I could see him without turning my head in weird ways. As I was fixing his feathers and looking at him I saw the air between us start to turn slightly purple. I blinked my eyes a few times, confused as to what could be happening. All of a sudden two large eyes appeared in front of me, and I was transfixed by its gaze, unable to take my eyes away. I faintly heard Victor chirp a warning and flap his wings, but by then my eyes were dropping and I crumpled to the floor, asleep.

I woke to a scuffle and something hitting me in the chest. I opened my eyes and looked down, seeing Joseline get up and move away from me, facing a Gastly with a determined look on her face before going at it with a Vine Whip. I felt feathers on my neck, and turned to see Victor looking through my bag, which was laying on the floor behind me. He managed to drag out a Pokeball with some difficulty (his beak wasn't big enough to grasp it, so he had to roll it out), and when he heard me move he turned and chirped at me, motioning to the battle behind me.

I turned to see Joseline on the ground, sleeping. The Gastly looked at her before turning to face Victor and I. Victor rolled the Pokeball to my hand and moved to stand in front of me, spreading his wings to try and intimidate the Gastly, who just laughed. Well, it looked like it was laughing, but no sound came out. It looked weak though, floating just above the ground, its gases fading, and an exhausted look in its eyes. I took the Pokeball into my hand, standing up. The Gastly watched my movements warily, but didn't make any move to attack. I tossed the ball towards the Gastly, and it put up quite some resistance before it was captured, the ball shaking at least ten times before it finally settled. I heard the familiar click from the Pokeball and ding from my PokeDex, which I took out of my bag to examine. The Gastly was a level four jolly female with a strong will who could use Hypnosis and Lick. I blinked and realized I now had a Gastly.

A _Gastly_.

"Yes!" I cried out, throwing my hands up in the air in triumph. "I have a Gastly, I have a Gastly!" I chanted, doing a little dance and hugging the Pokeball, letting out a short squeal. Gastlies had always been one of my dream Pokemon, and now I had one. I released her with a big smile on my face. "You're name is Rhine," I told her. "And you are going to be awesome." She smiled lightly up at me, but looked to be in pain.

By then Joseline had woken up, and she walked up to us, hiding behind my legs in a Soren-like manner.

I looked from Joseline to Rhine as I searched for a Potion in my bag. Finding one (I'd have to buy more, only a couple left), I sprayed Rhine, and her gas seemed to absorb the substance, growing bigger and more opaque. Once I was done she floated up to about my shoulder level, ready to follow me.

I looked back down at Joseline. "How did you get out of your Pokeball in the first place?" I asked her, spotting her Pokeball on the ground against a wall. She pointed one of her leaves at Victor, who was preening his feathers on the ground a few feet away from me. He looked up at me as if nothing had happened. "You clever boy," I said, shaking my head in disbelief. By releasing Joseline, Victor had bought time to get out a Pokeball for me to use to capture her with as well as allowing Rhine to be weakened enough for capture. I might not have thought about capturing her if it wasn't for Victor, so I was thankful.

Walking over to pick up Joseline's Pokeball, I returned her and put the Pokeball back in my bag before returning to pick up Victor, who proceeded to retake his place on my shoulder. Rhine floated beside me, quiet and waiting. "Rhine, when we fight the sages, I want you to go into battle first. Withdraw back immediately, and Victor will finish off the opponents with Gust. That way you'll gain experience without being put in any danger," I told her as I started walking. "Once you're at a higher level and can take on the other Pokemon, you can start battling." I saw her eyes move up and down in what I supposed was a nod. I nodded back, and we continued on.

We soon reached the top level of the Tower (I could see the hollow roof above us). There was one sage by the ladder, and I could see one in the room past the central pillar. He appeared to be battling, calling out commands I couldn't make out to Pokemon I couldn't see. The acoustics up there were very odd – the air felt heavy with silence even though there was noise.

The sage in front of us sent out a Bellsprout, and Rhine and Victor did their normal thing. Once the Bellsprout had fainted and been recalled, the sage sent out a Hoothoot. I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Victor, stay out there, Rhine stay back," I ordered. I didn't know what sort of threat the Hoothoot would pose, if any, so I decided not to risk a damage-dealing turn switching Rhine out for Victor. "Gust and see how much damage it does," I told Victor.

He did so, and the Hoothoot didn't seem well prepared for the hit so seemed to suffer quite some damage. Once the Hoothoot recovered from the blow it stared at Victor, capturing his gaze. I realized what was happening, calling out "Look away Victor!" but it was too late. He was already asleep, a poofy ball of feathers on the ground. "Fuck," I said, trying to think of a solution. I hadn't seen any Awakenings available back when I bought Antidotes the day before, so I didn't have any.

The Hoothoot hopped forward and Pecked Victor, and he stirred slightly but didn't wake up.

I couldn't send out Joseline because she would get butchered by the Hoothoot's Peck, and her Vine Whip would do almost no damage to the flying type. Rhine wasn't strong enough. Soren's level had fallen behind because of the training I had put Victor through, but I figured he was my best bet. I started to search through my bag, pushing things aside to try and find his Pokeball. While I did so the Hoothoot landed another Peck, causing Victor to stir some more.

Soren's Pokeball was no where to be found in my bag, and I looked up to see the Hoothoot land another Peck, causing Victor to bleed slightly. This caused him to wake up, however, and he retaliated with a strong Gust that caused the sage to take a step back as well. The Hoothoot dropped to the ground, defeated.

I breathed a sigh of relief, collecting my money from the sage and then bending down to tend to Victor's injury. He had a gash on the side of his body under where his right wing sat, so I had him lift his wings and concentrated the spray of the Potion on that area. Once he was fully healed, I stood up, ready to face the final sage. Before I took my first step towards the final room I heard a voice, loud and clear even with the odd acoustics.

"Can't tell me how to train my Pokemon," the voice said, and I started at the familiar voice that made me feel like I should shiver. A moment later I saw Leon walk into the space between the wall and the central pillar, the area that acted as a small hallway leading to the final room.

Our eyes met, neither of our gazes entirely friendly. He looked me up and down, then furrowed his eyebrows in what seemed like surprise before scowling. "What are you doing here?" he asked with a slight growl.

After a second's thought, I said "Training."

He scoffed. "Like that's going to help you much," he said, taking a few steps closer to me. "Your Cyndaquil may be able to take these Bellsprout on with ease, but it won't be getting much stronger out of it. Spamming Ember can only go so far."

That was news to me, Soren had only learned Smokescreen before I stopped training him; I wondered how Leon knew that Cyndaquils were supposed to learn Ember, but I decided not to dwell on it. "I can see why you're here," I said, crossing my arms. "I bet you could use the training these sages provide, what with your Totodile loosing to my Cyndaquil and all." I saw him clench his jaw and fists, but continued anyway. "How he's doing against all these grass types, anyway? Must not be good for either of your egos, to take so much damage from a little scratch of a leaf." His eyes darkened, and he glared at me with frightening intensity. I smiled inside, enjoying egging someone on. It was strangely enjoyable.

-x-

I regretted stopping to talk to her, because with every word she said I could feel anger boiling up inside of me. I could feel heat filling my body and my face getting warmer and warmer.

It had taken me a moment to recognize Sy, since she had cut her hair and changed her clothes; the only reason I managed was because I had a very good memory for faces. Her hair was windswept (I supposed she had spent the day outside, based on her sunburned face), with pieces of hair on the wrong side of a crooked part. Her clothes were different: she had gotten rid of her odd overalls in favour of a pair of simple shorts and an oversized t-shirt. She looked like a completely different person.

"Pokemon get stronger if you train them against Pokemon that they're weak against. I wouldn't expect you to know that though," I replied. I decided that I had had enough and walked past her towards the ladder.

As I stormed past her I noticed a Gastly floating by her side. I had yet to run into one, but if she could find and capture one I could too.

I jumped down the hole in the floor, ignoring the ladder. Not only did I not entirely trust them, but jumping a floor was good practice.

Once I was on the floor below, I started my hunt for a Gastly.

-x-

My eyes followed Leon as he walked past me and jumped down the ladder hole. I stayed where I was for a few moments, thinking. How did Leon know so much about Pokemon and training if he had just gotten a starter the day before? If he had any experience he should have had at least one Pokemon, but if he got through Sprout Tower with a Totodile, he definitely had some crazy skill and experience. It seemed odd, but my general impression of him (besides him being a total ass) was that he knew a lot about the world. He was able to corner me in Cherrygrove, and he must have been pretty stealthy when he entered Professor Elm's lab to steal the Totodile. Couple that with his Pokemon knowledge, and it seemed impossible that he was a beginner traveller or trainer. So why did he need to steal the Totodile? It didn't add up.

What I did know that was that I was impressed by his knowledge. I knew that I knew next to nothing about the world. What I knew about Pokemon strength and weaknesses, about training and strategy was from long days searching the internet; other than that, all I had to go by was logic and daydreams of running away from home giving me ideas about how to go about things. It had served me well so far, but I wanted to learn more.

And Leon could teach me. The only problem would be getting him to do that.

I took a deep breath, setting my shoulder back as I prepared to enter the next room. I bent down to pick up Victor before straightening again, Rhine floating by my head. I was ready.

After the battle, Victor glided back to his perch on my shoulder after taking out the final sage's second Bellsprout. I gave him a pat on the head in congratulations before stepping forward to claim my prize money. The sage gave me 1200д (!) and an Escape Rope to use to exit the Tower. I decided to backtrack and save the Escape Rope instead; I figured I could probably sell it for some extra money.

Once I climbed down the first ladder I took all the money out of the pocket in my bag and started to count it. After I bought a couple more Pokeballs for the road I'd have 5000д left over, which would be enough for clothes and the other necessities I hadn't brought with me. I grinned as I stuffed the money back into my bag (telling myself to get a wallet as well when I was shopping).

The climb down was uneventful, and the only Pokemon I saw were a couple of small Rattata that scurried into holes in the wall when I approached (they were probably there before too, I had just been to focused on the sages to notice). We were almost at the last ladder when I saw something blue fall towards the ground in front of me. I stepped back in surprise when its fall was halted when a flash of light absorbed it and took it back up. I looked above me and saw Leon balancing on the rafters above my head. A mass of purple – a Gastly – dived down towards his head, and he ducked down, placing his hands on the rafter in front of him for balance. He put a hand in one of his pockets and pulled out a Pokeball. Standing up, he threw it hard at the Gastly's retreating figure. It didn't get far, immediately absorbed into the Pokeball which twitched a few times in midair before clicking just before it hit the ground, bouncing a few times and rolling until it hit a wall.

My focus on the Pokeball was broken when Leon jumped down beside me. I flinched, not expecting him to do that. He raised his eyebrows at my skittishness. "You shouldn't get surprised like that," he said, putting his hands in his pockets. "Always be aware of what's going on around you, even if something else has your full attention." He walked forward and picked the Pokeball up off of the ground. "I hate weak Pokemon, and I hate weak people," he said as he examined the Pokeball before putting it into his pocket. "They always fail you in the end," he continued as if I wasn't even there, staring off into space. His fists clenched inside his pockets.

"How do you know so much about the world?" I asked without really thinking, my thoughts from earlier going straight to my mouth.

His head turned to face me. "What?" he said, a look of surprise passing briefly over his face.

"You seem to know so much about the world, but you only 'got,'" I made air quotes around the got, and he glared at me. "A starter yesterday. What gives?"

"Why do you even care?" he asked, taking a few steps towards me.

After a moment I said, "I don't know."

He scoffed. "Then don't worry about things that don't concern you," he said before walking past me towards ladder hole and jumping down it again.

I scoffed as well. "Show off."

"I heard that," he called up, but by the time I was down the ladder he was no where to be seen. I shook my head before walking towards the entrance.

Once I was outside I saw that the sun was now falling behind the treeline, the last of its rays shining off the small lake that separated Sprout Tower from the rest of Violet. Rhine was spinning and looking all round her. "Have you ever been outside?" I asked her as I started walking back into Violet to get Victor healed. I saw her shake her head before she floated a few feet above me, taking all the sights in.

Violet was more busy than New Bark, but there still weren't many people outside. The light of the setting sun made Violet's darkly colored buildings even more beautiful than in daylight, and I was looking about as much as Rhine as I made my way to the Pokemon Centre.

After getting everyone healed, I was ready to head to the gym once again. I planned to keep sending Rhine out first during the junior trainer battles, but send Victor out right away once we reached Falkner. Victor had gained several levels when we were in Sprout Tower, but I still wanted to play it safe during that final battle.

As we made the short journey from the Pokemon Centre to the gym Rhine continued to float above my head, a grin on her face as she looked at everything glowing in the twilight. Victor was chirping things at her, but I had no idea what message he was trying to convey and she didn't seem to be paying him any attention. She floated down to my level so that she could enter the gym through the door along with Victor and I.

The guy from earlier was gone, replaced by a short fat guy that stood beside one of the statues. He smiled when he saw me enter, and started to walk over to me. I wasn't interested in wasting any more time, so I walked straight ahead to the platform on the ground that the man from before had blocked from my sight. Once both of my feet were on it, it shot straight up. I was caught slightly off guard, bending down on one knee so as to not loose my balance due to the rapid acceleration. After a few seconds the platform stopped rising, and I looked at what was in front of me.

There were two bird keepers sitting on wide wooden rafters, looking pretty bored. Straight ahead of me past the two trainers sat Falkner, who stood up when he saw my gaze. The other two trainers followed suit, standing up and then staring straight ahead like robots. I found this odd, but I wasn't about to say anything about their strange behaviour.

Rhine floated up beside my head as I stood up again, having been left behind down below when the platform unexpectedly shot upwards. I held Victor in my arms because he had jumped off my shoulder and onto the platform when it had started to rise. I observed the rafters more closely: there was a path leading straight to Falkner that crossed paths with the two junior trainers, and there was also two clear walkways leading around them to Falkner's platform. I decided to take the junior trainer route.

I walked up to the first trainer, who introduced himself as Abe. He started to talk about how he felt like a bird Pokemon all the way up here, but before he finished Rhine moved forward, signalling the start of the battle. Abe shrugged and sent out a Spearow. Before he could call out a command Rhine withdrew and Victor jumped forward, giving out a loud chirp and spreading his wings out fully. The Spearow retaliated by Leering. Victor seemed to frown, lowering his wings.

"Gust," I said. Victor did, sending the Spearow off the rafter and into the opposite wall. It seemed stunned, but once it started to fall it spread its wings, and using the extra speed was able to glide back up to the rafter to stand in front of his trainer again. I could see a wound in the side of his head bleeding. It Growled, lowering its body in preparation for Victor's next attack. "Again," I commanded, and Victor unleashed another Gust, again sending the other bird into the wall. This time the Spearow was knocked out, and started to fall to the ground. Abe called out before returning it to its Pokemon before it hit the ground.

"Don't think that just because your Pidgey is strong that you'll be able to defeat us," Abe said as he pulled his other Pokeball off of his belt. "We train day and night to become masters."

I scoffed. "Yeah, okay," I said as Victor returned to my side and Rhine went out to wait for the other trainer's next Pokemon. He released a Pidgey, and Victor and Rhine switched places once again.

"Sand Attack!" Abe cried out, determined not to lose. The Pidgey scratched its talons on the rafter, sending something into Victor face. He backed up and shook his head, trying to clear it out of his eyes.

I blinked in confusion. "There's no sand there, where's it coming from?"

Abe scratched his head before shrugging. "Never really thought about that. I have no clue. Pidgey, Sand Attack again!"

"Victor, Gust, now," I said. Victor unleashed a very powerful burst of wind, sending the Pidgey flying and causing Abe to almost lose his balance. It was obviously a critical hit, and the Pidgey was immediately knocked out. Abe returned it to its Pokeball before it could fall too far, a sullen look on his face. Victor waddled over to me chirping happily, and I heard my Pokedex ding inside my bag, signalling that Victor had gone up a level, which meant he'd be at level 15. I smiled at him and picked him up, brushing my fingers through his feathers in congratulations.

After collecting my money, I moved on to the next junior trainer, who introduced himself as Rod. Before sending Rhine out I drew out Victor's Pokeball and put him inside it, hoping it would reset his accuracy after the last battle and get all the remaining sand out of his eyes.

Rhine went out front first, and Rod sent out a Pidgey. Rhine returned to my side and I released Victor from his Pokeball. "Sand Attack!" Rod cried out, and before Victor could move out of the way (not that he had much room for manoeuvring, because the rafters were fairly narrow) he was hit with yet another faceful of sand.

"For fuck's sake," I said, rubbing my face with my hands. "Gust the hell out of that thing." Victor did, and when the Pidgey glided back to the rafters it was bleeding and one of its wings wasn't sitting right. "Now Quick Attack."

Victor complied, but he missed the Pidgey and almost fell off the edge. With Victor so close Rod's Pidgey did another Sand Attack.

"Move away Victor!" I called out to him, and he moved away from the other Pidgey and back towards me. "Try Quick Attack again." He did, and this time he hit straight on, having observed the opponent's location carefully as he was backing up. The Pidgey was pushed back to Rod feet, and he returned it to its Pokeball with a sad look on his face. He stepped forward and handed me my victory money. I counted it – 224д! I did a quick happy dance before putting it in my bag. I heard a ding from my PokeDex, and opened it and saw that Rhine had gained a level and was now level 10. I smiled at her before closing my bag and walking towards Falkner's platform.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong> – Based on PokeDex heights, the only non-legendary flying Pokemon that could carry a full-grown man is a Dragonite (at 7 foot 3). Tropius might, but they're from a different gen, so they don't count. Togekiss may also be capable, but again, different gen (technically). I'm just going to pretend that Xatu are a lot bigger than they are, because Dragonites belong to our favorite dragon master...whose character I have yet to imagine. Crap, gotta get on that.

I figured I needed to describe Sy from someone else's point of view, because she's a lot worse off than she thinks she is XD But she'll get used to it.

Notice my skillful laziness when it came to the final sage battle.

I was going to do the battle with Falkner in this chapter, but I changed my mind =P I'll probably start writing it once I finish uploading this, so hopefully the next chapter won't take too long.

And yeah, I'm sorry this chapter took so long to come out. In January I had lots of homework, and then at the beginning of February I had a big flying exam to study for and I'm only now getting back into a normal rhythm. Chapters should start to come out more often now ^_^


	7. Day 2: Falkner and the Egg

_My Main Pokemon:_

_Soren – Cyndaquil  
><em>_Victor – Pidgey  
><em>_Kadela – Weedle  
><em>_Joseline – Bellsprout  
><em>_Rhine – Gastly_

_...I smiled at Rhine before closing my bag and walking towards Falkner's platform._

Falkner watched me aloftly as I walked towards him. When I stopped on the platform, he uncrossed his arms and put his hands in his pockets. He stood tall, his back straight and his shoulders back. He was up on a small raised platform, which he stepped down from before speaking.

"So, you have triumphed over the other trainers, and without the use of electricity," he said, staring me down. I held his gaze without wavering or looking away. "And for that reason I already have some respect for you. Clipping bird's wings with electricity is unacceptable and an insult to bird Pokemon." In my head I said _It's not an insult, it's just good strategy_, but I kept quiet as he continued. "Don't get cocky just because you've beat the others; my skills are for real." He pulled a Pokeball out of one of his pockets. He threw the ball forward. "I, Falkner, accept your challenge. Go, Pidgey!"

"Finally," I muttered, before saying louder "Victor, you know what to do."

Victor launched himself from my shoulder and glided down towards the ground between Falkner and I. While in the air he unleashed a Gust that threw Falkner's Pidgey against the wall behind Falkner. His head whipped around as he followed his Pokemon with his eyes. Under his gaze the Pokemon managed to lift itself to its feet, wobbling forward back towards Victor with determination in its eyes.

"Tackle," I whispered so that Victor could hear me but Falkner could not. Victor shot forward towards the struggling Pidgey, knocking it back again but not doing nearly as much damage as his Gust had done. It didn't look like it was in good shape, but I wanted to make sure that it was taken care of as quickly as possible, so I ordered another Gust from Victor. He complied, the Gust sending the nearly limp Pidgey against the wall to my right. My eyes followed it until it was absorbed by a ray of light, and I trained my eyes on Falkner, whose eyes were now showing anger instead of cool indifference and haughtiness.

Replacing his Pidgey's Pokeball into his pocket, he called out "Pidgeotto!" I furrowed my eyebrows, confused at the lack of Pokeball in Falkner's hand. My confusion was resolved a moment later when a large dark brown shape dived from above and narrowly missed Victor. It flew back up and started to circle the battle area, and I saw that it was in fact a Pidgeotto. My PokeDex beeped using a pitch I had never heard before, and I reached for it as I gave Victor my next command.

"The usual Victor, and make it strong and fast." Victor unleashed a Gust straight upwards towards the Pidgeotto, but the force of the wind gathering around him and then going upwards caused him to be carried up as well. On instinct he opened his wings to catch the wind of the Gust, and he was carried upwards past the Pidgeotto, who got the brunt of the wind. The Pidgeotto was barely affected, however, its wings only getting jarred slightly with the initial force of the wind. It kept circling, flapping its wings on occasion but mostly gliding in a lazy circle. Its eyes were trained upwards on Victor's form near the ceiling of the gym.

I chanced a glance down at my PokeDex. Apparently it had beeped because the Pigeotto was level 13 but Pidgeys didn't evolve until level 18. I didn't know whether to raise my eyebrows or furrow them, so I ended up just raising one eyebrow rather awkwardly. I returned my face to normal and looked across at Falkner, who was looking at me instead of the battle going on above. "You hacked your Pokemon! Or something. Why is it evolved five levels early?"

Falkner seemed to stand up even straighter with pride, if that was possible. "He was my father's, who was gym leader before I was."

"So you're not even battling with your own Pokemon?" I asked in surprise.

Falkner opened his mouth to retort when his eyes caught sight of something above, and I looked up as well. It seemed that Falkner's Pidgeotto had unleashed a Gust on Victor, causing him to hit a rafter when he lost temporary control. He had lost a lot of altitude in his fall, and was now only a dozen feet above where the Pidgeotto was circling. Falkner called out something to the Pidgeotto that I didn't quite catch, and it flapped its wings several times and headed straight for Victor in what looked like a Tackle or Headbutt of some kind. Victor was faster than the Pidgeotto and much more manoeuvrable, and he dodged the attack easily. Victor landed another Gust, but it didn't do much damage. He used the extra wind to give himself some more altitude and get himself out of reach.

The Pidgeotto, angry at the miss, unleashed a Gust in Victor's direction, causing him to almost hit the wall before he made a sharp turn to avoid it. One of his wingtips hit it, however, causing it to bleed lightly. "Victor, come down for a Potion," I called up to him. Avoiding an attack attempt by the Pidgeotto he made his way down to my side within a matter of moments. I had the Potion ready to spray on his wound, and applied it quickly. As I sprayed I whispered to him. "Good job using Gusts to keep yourself in the air. Try and focus them more so that they're more violent. Don't be afraid to dive-bomb it if you see an opening, otherwise just keep Gusting. And aim for the wings, if you can cripple it we'll be good to go." Victor chirped in acknowledgement when I finished spraying before summoning a light Gust to get himself back into the air.

Once Victor was closer to the Pidgeotto he unleashed another Gust, this time with renewed vigour. The Pidgeotto hit another rafter, and I was sure I heard something crack. It stayed up there, though, climbing onto the rafter and closing its eyes for a few moments as Victor worked his way up to the Pidgeotto's height. I had no idea what it was doing until it opened its eyes and a few feathers started to float to the ground. "Shit ass, it used Roost!" I muttered, and I saw Falkner cast a glance my way before returning his gaze to the battle.

I could tell that the Pidgeotto was almost at full health after its Roost because of how quickly it climbed above Victor after launching itself off of the rafter, its wingstrokes long and powerful. Both Pokemon positioned themselves to attack, and both released a Gust at the same time. I couldn't tell exactly what happened up in the air, but both Pokemon were flung backwards into opposite walls. They were both dazed, but recovered quickly and were back in the air in moments. I pulled a Potion out of my bag, holding it at the ready in case Victor needed it. The Pidgeotto released another weak Gust at Victor, and before he could retaliate it climbed quickly to the very top of the building, where I supposed it used Roost again.

"Fuck," I muttered again, getting frustrated. "Victor, Quick Attack it," I called out to him. I saw him gain altitude quickly and slam his body into the Pidgeotto's, causing it to fall off the rafter before it was done Roosting. It recovered after a moment, spreading its wings and using its speed to glide up to where Victor was. I guess it unleashed a Gust as it was moving, because Victor was thrown up against the roof when the Pidgeotto was still a dozen feet below him. Victor started to plummet down to the platform that Falkner and I stood on, and only spread his wings at the last moment to stop himself from getting flattened. I ran forward to spray a Potion on him, watching as his eyes focused once more. "Hang in there Victor," I said. "The Quick Attack seemed to do more damage than Gust, so do that instead of Gust spam. Go!"

Victor shot back into the air, heading straight for the Pidgeotto who was heading towards a rafter, likely for another Roost. Victor hit it in its stomach, but before he could get away it got a good hit in with its wings, throwing Victor through the air. The Pidgeotto stopped flapping its wings, clearly in pain from Victor's blow. It glided for a few moments, scanning the area below for Victor. It never saw him coming.

Victor had managed a Gust strong enough to carry himself above the Pidgeotto before letting himself drop straight onto it, effectively knocking it out of the air and down onto the platform between Falkner and I. Victor landed less than gracefully on it, barely keeping his eyes open. Falkner and I both ran forward. I lifted Victor into my arms before reaching for his Pokeball and returning him to it, and Falkner got down at the Pidgeotto's side. Falkner looked up at me, and the only word to describe his expression was cold.

"You and your Pokemon are ruthless," he said in a loud whisper, standing up without breaking eye contact with me. "A lesser hit would have brought my Pidgeotto down, and you used excessive force with the junior trainer's Pokemon as well. You may be powerful, but you have yet to learn to control that power." He turned around and walked over to where he had been seated when I entered the gym. He grabbed something before turning back around and walking back. "Here," he said gruffly. "The Zephyr badge, as proof of your victory here, and TM51, which contains Roost." He placed the items into my outstretched hand, along with the bills that made up my victory money. "I'd suggest going to Azalea next," he said, picking up his Pidgeotto and turning away from me. "Maybe Bugsy will be able to show you why it is important to control your power."

_Why contain power when you can use its full potential?_ I scoffed in my head as I turned away as well. In all honesty I was a little confused about what I had done wrong; Victor had given it his all to make sure he won, right? This was a gym battle, shouldn't you give it your all?

I walked towards the platform that had brought me up there quickly and quietly, ignoring the congratulations coming from Abe and Rod. This time I was prepared for the sudden drop of the platform, but I had to wait for a moment at the bottom as Rhine floated down on her own time. The short fat guy from before tried to congratulate me as well, but I walked past him quickly and outside into the fresh air.

It was completely dark out now, and there was a thin layer of clouds high above that blocked out the stars but still allowed a halo of the moon's light to shine through. There were no street lamps in Violet (I had always figured that every town besides New Bark would have them, but I guess I was wrong), so it was this pale light that guided me as I made my way to the Pokemon Centre to get Victor healed.

As I waited for Victor to be healed the Nurse asked if I wanted a room as well. As I counted my money from my battle with Falkner – 1560д – I declined, but before she could ask why I heard my PokeGear ring from inside my bag, saving me from coming up with an excuse and likely listening to a lecture. Pulling it out and walking away from the counter, I looked at the caller display. It was the number of Professor Elm's lab. I debated answering it silently, but decided against it in case my dad was somehow able to trace my location. I let it ring, and a minute after it stopped ringing I got notification of a voice message. I figured it was safe to listen to that.

Professor Elm's voice carried through the speaker as it sat against my ear. "Hi Sy, it's Professor Elm. I hope you're okay, and, umm, your parents are worried about you, but that's not what I'm calling about. I can't say much, but you see, I got tipped off that being around Pokemon might help the egg you brought me develop and eventually hatch, and I was hoping that you'd be willing to carry it around until it hatches. I'm counting on you, because I really can't trust Jared with it because he'd likely drop it within an hour. My aide is waiting in the PokeMart in Violet for you, so if you could pick it up asap that would be great. I hope Soren's doing well. Bye."

Wow, Professor Elm sounded really awkward on the phone. I put my phone back into my bag, pondering the situation. Keeping the egg warm and making sure it didn't break would require a lot of work, not to mention there was no guarantee that it would hatch into a Pokemon that would be worth using. _Plus it could be a trap_, I thought as I walked back to the counter to collect Victor's Pokeball. My father could have set it up to get me and bring me back home. It was a risk I wasn't willing to take.

I released Victor from his Pokeball and said "Come on buddy, let's get you some food and then go find a place to camp for the night." Before I could start walking I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I jumped slightly in surprise before turning around.

Behind me stood a man about my height, with short black hair and icy blue eyes. He was probably in his late twenties (but I'd never been good at judging people's ages), and he was wearing dark blue jeans and a black jacket. "Sorry, but I couldn't help but overhear – and by couldn't help I mean that I have hyperacusis so my hearing is extremely good – that someone wants you to pick something up at the PokeMart. Aren't you going to do that?"

I looked at the guy incredulously. "What's it to you?" I asked, keeping my guard up.

"Well, shouldn't you go collect it?" he said, seeming to squirm under my gaze.

"I ask again, what's it to you?"

"N-nothing," he said. "I was just curious is all."

"Then I think you should just mind your own business," I said, turning away from him and starting to walk away from the strange man towards the door.

Just before I opened the door he called out "I can get it for you, if you want."

I turned my head to look at him again. I studied his face. His eyes were wide either in innocence or fear, I couldn't tell which. I let out a heavy sigh before saying "Fine, if it's _so_ important to you, go ahead. Tell the aide that Sy sent you to get the egg for her since she's busy at the moment. Then bring it back here."

The man smiled wide and bolted past me through the door. As I lost sight of him I realized I should have told him to make sure not to give away my location to the aide in case my dad asked him anything. I ran my hand though my hair before going to sit down in one of the chairs in the lobby of the Pokemon Centre to wait for his return.

A couple of minutes later he walked through the doors of the Pokemon Centre, looking calm and composed. He held the egg carefully in his arms against his chest. He spotted me quickly and made his way over to me. "Here," he said, handing it to me. I nodded in thanks, taking it from him and placing it in my lap. He remained standing in front of me awkwardly.

"What?" I asked after a few moments.

"Well," he began, squirming again. "I was wondering – if it wasn't too much trouble – if you could call me when that egg hatches. I'd really like to see what it hatches into."

I was very suspicious of this odd man by this point, but I figured the only way to get him to leave me alone was to comply. "Fine, give me your number," I said, holding out my hand for his PokeGear. He pulled it out of the pocket of his jacket and handed it to me, another grin on his face. I pulled my own PokeGear out of my pocket and entered his number. His number registered in my PokeGear as Gabriel. Afterwards I held his PokeGear out to him, but he didn't take it back immediately. "What?" I asked, getting a little frustrated.

"Aren't you going to give me your number?" he asked.

"No. _I_ will call _you_ when the egg hatches, alright?"

He nodded and took back his PokeGear, replacing it into his pocket. "Well, bye," he said before running out of the Pokemon Centre.

I couldn't help but mutter "What the fuck" when he left, amazed at the strangeness of the whole thing. I looked down at the egg in my lap, trying to decide what to do now that I had it. After a moment I had an idea. "Excuse me miss," I said, getting the Nurse's attention. "Do you know if you can store eggs in the PC?"

"I believe you can," the Nurse said, nodding. "Do you need help?"

"No, it's fine, I'll do it myself," I said before standing up and walking over to the PC counter. I placed the egg on the counter before logging into my account. Within moments I had deposited it in the same box as Felni, and my problem was solved. "Good riddance," I muttered, logging off and leaving the Pokemon Centre.

Once outside I stopped to consider where I should sleep. I decided quickly on the woods, where I would be out of sight during the day if I slept in (my eyes were feeling quite heavy at that point). I remembered spotting a clearing on the western edge of the water by Sprout Tower, so I decided on that since it was otherwise out of sight of the city, and it would give me a chance to wash my hair.

Thinking of this, I scanned the stores in sight quickly. I spotted a general store with its light still on, so I made my way over to it. I looked in, and only saw a short lady reading a book at a cash. I walked in, and she only gave me a quick glance before returning to her book. I walked through the aisles quickly, picking up anything I needed. Shampoo, a toothbrush and toothpaste, the works. I also grabbed a snack for myself and my Pokemon. With my money from the gym I was up to around 10 000д, and the total of my items came to around 1600д, which left me with plenty for new clothes.

As I walked through town towards the water with my bag of purchases in hand I looked at the stores I passed. They were all closed now, but I noticed a store that advertised outdoor adventuring clothing and gear, so I marked it on a mental map and planned to visit it the next morning before moving on from Violet.

I reached the water and started to walk along the bank, keeping to the grass so that my tracks wouldn't be obvious. As I walked I looked at the map on my PokeGear, trying to decide where I would go next. Falkner had suggested Azalea, but that seemed like the logical next step, so my dad might be expecting that; not an option. There was a crossroads to the west where I'd be able to cut up to Ecruteak to the north, which would allow me to bypass Goldenrod (where my dad was based) entirely. Satisfied, I threw my PokeGear into my bag, and looked up at the sky. The clouds were thicker now, blocking out the moon entirely. The only light I had to see by was the residual light from Violet and the Sprout Tower.

I looked to my left where I knew Rhine was floating by my shoulder. The only way I could tell she was there was because of the purple haze I could see the Sprout Tower through. "How are you doing Rhine?" I asked. I saw her big white eyes turn towards me, and she showed her teeth in a smile. "I'll take that as good." I felt Victor squirm on my right shoulder. "And how are you doing, oh great soaring one?" He chirped several times as I pet his head. "That battle was incredible, I have to say. I think it's good that you managed to summon a light Gust and still be able to use Tackle and Quick Attack, but we'll practice tomorrow and see if we can get your Gusts powerful and accurate so that it's even more effective." He chirped again before letting out the bird version of a yawn. "Long day, huh?" I said, putting my bags down because we had arrived at the clearing. I searched my bag for Victor's Pokeball, but he jumped off my shoulder and tried to grab it out of my hand when I found it. "I'm still going to be awhile," I told him, holding it out of his reach. "You get to sleep, and I'll release you when I'm ready for bed." He looked crestfallen but went into his Pokeball willingly.

I put his Pokeball on top of my bag before emptying my bag of purchases from the store. Rhine floated down beside the small pile and started to emit a faint purple glow on them. "Why didn't you do that sooner?" I asked, sitting down beside the items to sort through them. She looked up at me but didn't say anything as I worked.

After a minute I had several things put away in my bag, and a few things left out for my use that night. I returned Rhine to her Pokeball, and grabbed the shampoo, soap, toothbrush and toothpaste and walked towards the water. I realized that I didn't have a towel, but I shrugged that off; it would take up too much space anyway.

As I removed my clothes and glided into the water – it was warmer than the surrounding air so it was quite pleasant – I added a bathing suit to my mental shopping list. I ran through it quickly as I dunked my head below the water to get my hair wet and swam a few strokes below the surface of the water, my short hair feeling strange as I moved through the water. Pants, shorts, tops, a sweater or two, and ankle socks. I'd also need a bag with more capacity than my messenger bag, a compass in case I ever lost my bearings, an emergency blanket (which would take up less room than my down blanket and was waterproof), and maybe a tent as well depending on the price. Also a wallet or some way of keeping my money organized, if the store had any.

As I shampooed my hair it again felt strange because of its shortness, but I noticed that I required far less shampoo now than I had before, which would mean my purchase would last longer. I washed myself quickly, a light wind having picked up, swirling at me from all different directions as its flow was disturbed by the trees a few dozen feet away from me.

Once I was done I let the wind dry me. As I stood on the beach I realized I'd have to put my dirty clothes back on, but shrugged it off when I realized I'd have to get used to it, because I'd probably end up doing that a lot. I decided to ask at the store the next day about a way to clean clothes in the wilderness when washing machines weren't available.

Once I was dry I pulled my hoodie out of my bag and pulled it over my head, then proceeded to remove my blanket and plastic sheet from my bag as well. I set up my bed under what would be the shade of the trees once the sun rose and out of sight of the bridge that crossed over to Sprout Tower, moving my other items out of sight as well. I applied some cream to my sunburn again, though it hadn't been bothering me. Once I was settled in I released Victor from his Pokeball as promised. He opened his eyes drowsily, so I couldn't tell if he had been sleeping or not. He snuggled up to me under the blanket and closed his eyes, promptly falling asleep. I followed him a few minutes later.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong> – IT'S DONE OMG. Sorry this took so long, I was working on it on and off. This chapter and the next were going to be one big one, but I decided to split them up. The next one will be up very soon, I just have to write one small part of it now that I have access to a map.

I had way too much fun with this chapter and making Victor glide. All the other gyms are going to seem all boring and lame :c

Speaking of which, I assume that Pidgeys are not strong enough or are otherwise incapable of flapping their wings enough to fly, even though they can technically learn the move Fly (but using it outside of battle for carrying yourself is bullshit). I also assume that the Pidgeotto is strong enough, and also has enough experience to be capable of flying. I haven't quite decided whether or not I'll attribute this to Victor as well when he evolves.

I consider a Pokemon in the yellow range to be "bloodied" (a Dungeons & Dragons term for at or below half health), and "uber bloodied" if in the red range. So basically if blood is present I'm simply stating that a Pokemon's HP is starting to get low-ish. Any mention of the word "dazed" or some type of lack of focus is likely inferring that as well.

I don't think that trainers would call out every command to their Pokemon. Eventually a Pokemon would know the strategy that its trainer uses, and be able to anticipate enough to be able to act on its own without prompting from its trainer, oftentimes being able to take advantage of favourable attack opportunities. I showed this a bit with Victor in Sprout Tower, but I think that this would definitely apply to gym leaders and their Pokemon.


	8. Day 3: The Tree, Union Cave, and Helia

_My Main Pokemon:_

_Soren – Cyndaquil  
><em>_Victor – Pidgey  
><em>_Kadela – Weedle  
><em>_Joseline – Bellsprout  
><em>_Rhine – Gastly_

_...Victor snuggled up to me under the blanket and closed his eyes, promptly falling asleep. I followed him a few minutes later._

I woke up at some point around noon the next day, and I was immediately wide awake. I sat up and the wind whipped at my hair, having picked up considerably since the night before. Victor slid down into my lap, then opened his eyes, looked up at me, and hid his head under one of his wings. I lifted him off me gently and put him on top of my blanket while I cleaned up my things from the night before. By the time I had everything put away Victor was fully awake and was creating his own Gusts to ride before catching the wind higher up. I kept an eye on him as I walked along the bank back towards Violet. The air above the trees was going due east, which gave him incredible ground speed from the tailwind, so he kept having to double back when I called for him to not get too far ahead of me.

It was easier to navigate the shore now since it was light out, so we made good time getting back to Violet. I made my way straight to the shop I had picked out the night before and entered it.

About forty-five minutes and 8000д later I left the shop. I now wore a black tank top and a pair of army green cargo pants which could be turned into shorts by unzipping the zipper that ran around the knees. A decent sized black, green, and orange backpack was slung over one of my shoulders and held the rest of my purchases and other belongings. I still wore the running shoes I had received back in Cherrygrove (had it really only been two days before?), but in my bag I had some covers for them that would keep my feet dry if it was raining (and judging by the clouds such an opportunity may not be far off). In one of the pockets of my cargo pants was a pair of mirror aviators in a durable case just waiting for the sun to come out so I could show them off (it had been hard for me to look away from myself when I had them on back inside the shop).

I had bought a second identical pair of the cargo pants I wore, as well as three other black tank tops, a white one, a dark red one, and a dark brown one. They were made of a nice thin material and rolled up to a volume less than my fist, so I was very satisfied with them (plus they were buy two get one free, so I saved a good chunk of money). I also bought a pair of black shorts, a warm waterproof jacket, and a bathing suit. I had found a durable emergency blanket (reinforced with some material I wasn't familiar with), and had opted for a large tarp instead of a tent. I also bought a good knife and multi-tool in addition to a few other small purchases, including Repels (which I had a feeling would become a good friend of mine), Pokemon medicine, and a wonderful solution for cleaning clothes without a machine.

The clerk had been very helpful, and had even shown me a nice trick where Pokeballs could be used for one-time storage of inanimate items (once they're taken out the Pokeball becomes unusable because the mechanism is damaged when the items are released). There was a Pokeball buried at the bottom of my bag that contained my old clothes, bag, and blanket. They had also warned me that there was an odd tree blocking the way to Ecruteak, so I'd probably have to detour around and go through Azalea and Goldenrod if I was heading in that direction. When I inquired further they said they didn't know much about it, just that no one was able to get past it and that it was bad for business because people couldn't come to Violet to shop and vice-versa.

I used the last of my money to grab some food for myself and my Pokemon before walking towards route 36, hoping that there would be plenty of trainers so that I could rebuild my money stash. I figured that I would just walk around the tree through the forest; what was stopping people from doing that? Above all I was determined to skip Goldenrod, because I knew that was the most dangerous place to be when trying to avoid the police – they were everywhere in that city.

I could see the tree long before I reached it. It was quite short, only about four feet tall. Its bark was smooth and light brown with some yellow thrown in, and the only leaves were strange green round things at the end of its two branches – it had what looked like the beginnings of branches coming out the top.

"Not much of a tree," I said out loud as I looked down on it from a few feet away. Victor chirped then jumped off my shoulder and down onto one of the tree's two branches.

And then he was flung off.

I gasped in surprise, both at the fact that the tree moved and the fact that it had flung Victor. I turned to run a few paces behind me to try and catch Victor, but he had already spread his wings to glide downwards. Before I turned back, however, a rock came out of nowhere and hit Victor, knocking him out of the sky. I gasped again but caught him, one of his claws cutting my arm (luckily I had rolled the sleeves of my jacket up or else he would have torn a hole in it). I hissed at this, but it was clear Victor was in more pain than I was, one of his wings bent out of place.

I turned slightly when I heard a noise from behind me, but then there was a sharp pain in my shoulder, and a rock fell to the ground behind me. I looked around frantically, trying to find the source of the onslaught. I couldn't see anything, and I didn't want to get near the tree after I saw it move so I went towards the forest. I would either find the source of the rocks or be able to take cover – either one sounded like a good option to me.

I had taken one step into the forest when my leg hit something thin, and a shock went through my body, causing me to fall back a step and almost drop Victor. I looked down and saw a very thin wire not far off the ground, and upon closer inspection, I found that there were several others that were in my path (the shadows hid them quite well). There was no way I could fit in between them.

I assessed my situations within moments. A tree that moved, something attacking me with rocks, and electric fences in a really random area.

I was done there.

I knew from the map in the Pokemon Centre that the Ruins of Alph lay to the south, but that would just waste time, so I went back to Violet to get Victor's wing fixed (and to get my arm bandaged up as well) before proceeding south from there.

As I walked south down route 32 I was stopped by a man who gave me what he called a Miracle Seed, which would apparently boost the power of Grass-type moves. I debated between giving it to Joseline or selling it as I continued to walk. The wind was calm along the path, the trees blocking the wind but the treetops swaying.

I faced a kid called Albert who used a Rattata and a Zubat, but insisted he wasn't using the same tough Pokemon as everyone else. I couldn't help but laugh as I walked away after defeating him, not able to count how many trainers I had faced that used Rattata. Zubat were far less common, but hardly tough. Soon after defeating him I found a Repel on the ground, but decided to save it and put it away in my bag with the other Repels (my new bag had so many pockets it was wonderful).

At one point the path divided into two, and I was going to go along the fishing pier because I could see plenty of trainers, but then I spotted an item in the grass and decided to go through it and then go at the pier from the south. It ended up being a TM for Bullet Seed, and I also found a Great Ball further along down the path.

As we worked our way through the grass Rhine was having a field day with the Mareep because they couldn't hurt her, but they kept paralyzing each other so I used up a fair chunk of the Parlyz Heals I had bought. She could have learned Curse at one point when she levelled up, but I decided against that because it was just asking for trouble. Victor also managed a couple of one-hit KOs with Quick Attack, which was quite impressive. There were a couple of trainers in the grass, one of which was an eight year old with a cellphone which just made me shake my head; at least get a PokeGear if you're going to start that young. A couple of the trainers had Spearows, which I think are just mentally retarded Pidgeys. Also, Woopers are just derpy.

Once I was through the grass I doubled back along the pier to face those trainers. I quickly determined that Magikarp were nothing more than a waste of time and PP. Joseline made quick work of all the water Pokemon, though I did get a scare when a Goldeen used Peck on Joseline's face and she barely managed a Vine Whip to finish it off, but she gained a level's worth of EXP so that was nice. She learnt Wrap, which ended up not being effective in the least, though I did have the idea to have her combine it with Vine Whip for a close-proximity attack; I'd have her try that when we had time to just train. I decided to save the training for later, because the clouds were getting low and dark.

I walked down the rest of the route with a grin on my face, all the trainers having paid me over 100д each. When I rounded a group of trees I found a Pokemon Centre, which was a pleasant surprise because some of my Pokemon's moves were getting low on PP. Right beside the Pokemon Centre was the entrance to Union Cave, which I entered after exiting the Pokemon Centre.

The first thing I noticed when I entered Union Cave was the amount of Rattata scurrying about; I could see at least three at any one time, and they were going in and out of holes in the walls.

Not far in I found an X-Attack on the ground, and when I bent down to pick it up I felt something swoop close over my head. I stood up quickly, scanning the cave. There was a Zubat looking at me from the ceiling, and when our eyes met it hid its head with one of its wings, similar to what Victor had done that morning when he woke up. I shrugged, then motioned for Joseline (who was still out and walking with me after dealing with all the water Pokemon on the pier) to follow after me as I continued through the cave.

I quickly noticed that the Zubat was stalking me – there was no other word for it. It would follow after us, then try to hide whenever I turned my head; and by hiding I mean it hid its face, as if that would make it invisible to me.

A good distance into the cave I decided to just confront the Zubat. I switched Joseline out for Rhine, who used Hypnosis to put the Zubat to sleep. I decided to catch the Zubat since it seemed to like me already, so I ordered Rhine to use Lick on it. The Lick caused the Zubat to wake up immediately, however, and it proceeded to use Supersonic and confuse Rhine (and give me a headache – I should have bought some headache pills for myself back in Violet). She hurt herself when I told her to Lick the Zubat, but snapped out of it before her next attack.

After a short battle the Zubat was caught. Checking my PokeDex, I saw that she was a careful level 7 who was highly persistent – no kidding. I released her from her Pokeball. "Well Helia, let's try you out."

And by try, I mean attempt but not succeed. No matter what I did Helia refused to battle any of the Pokemon we encountered, whether Rattata, Geodude, or fellow Zubat. _Is it normal for Zubat to be so stupid as to not follow their trainer's instructions?_ I thought with another frustrated sigh as I released Victor from his Pokeball to deal with the Rattata that thought it was a good idea to get in my way.

And that is when Helia went from following my every move to following Victor's tail like a hawk – she just didn't leave him alone. I couldn't tell whether he liked the attention or not, but I put them back into their Pokeballs when one of his Gusts accidentally hit Helia as well, causing her to shoot down the path uncontrollably and hit a passing Onix in the eye (Onix are freaking huge Pokemon, by the way). Joseline took care of it with a few Vine Whips and learnt Sleep Powder as a result, but that didn't mean that I wanted it to happen again.

As I continued through the cave I came across more items, including an X-Speed, X-Defend, and a TM for Rock Tomb, along with more trainers. The hikers paid very well at over 300д apiece. There was also a strange wild-eyed man that offered me Slowpoketails, but I brushed past him and ignored him. Victor learnt Whirlwind and forgot Tackle after defeating a Firebreather's Koffing, and I began to ponder how I could use that move in battle. Joseline also learned PoisonPowder and forgot Growth, which she had never used.

During one battle I heard a strange cry echo through the cave, which startled me. The trainer I was facing told me it was the Lapras that lived in the depths of the cave. I had heard of Lapras, but had had no idea about where to find it. After a few more questions I made it my goal to acquire it when I could.

I found several more items before I reached the end of the cave. When I reached the entrance I saw that it was raining outside, so I took off my bag and put the covers on my shoes, put my jacket on, and pulled my umbrella out.

On to Azalea.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes<strong> – Another chapter, the shortest yet and slightly boring. I rushed it slightly on purpose because nothing interesting really happens and I didn't want you guys to die. Plus now that it's done I can work on the next chapter which is extremely epic (I've started to write it and had to force myself to come back and proofread and post this).

I don't know if there's actually some magical stuff for cleaning clothes quickly and easily without a machine, but I'm taking liberty on this.

The Sudowoodo...I don't even know what to say.

I actually raged so much when I remembered that Lapras was in Union Cave, I always told myself that I would use Repels all through it so that I could legitely catch it later on once I had Surf but I fucked up and forgot and I had already saved and that makes me angry and grr I may make a plot device so that I can get it x.x


	9. Day 3: Slowpoke Well and Joshua

_My Main Pokemon:_

_Soren – Cyndaquil__  
>Victor – Pidgey<em>_  
>Kadela – Weedle<em>_  
>Joseline – Bellsprout<em>_  
>Rhine – Gastly<em>_  
>Helia – Zubat<em>

_...I took off my bag and put the covers on my shoes, put my jacket on, and pulled my umbrella out._

_On to Azalea._

The rain outside was moderately heavy, but my umbrella was quite wide so only the bottoms of my pants got hit by the rain. There was a hiker outside the cave that I defeated quickly before continuing down the route. There was some grass to my left as I walked but I didn't venture into it.

When I rounded a corner in the path I saw two men in the middle of the path some distance in front of me. They were talking, but I didn't focus on their words immediately because I noticed that one of them was dressed strangely, all in black with a bright red R on the front of his shirt.

Team Rocket.

_T__hey br__oke __up years ago...?_ I thought, then decided to focus on hearing what the men were saying. I backed up to behind a tree on the corner so that I was closer but out of sight. I eased my umbrella closed.

"...We are back to pursue Giovanni's ambition!" the Team Rocket member was saying to the other man, who didn't say anything but turned and ran away a moment later. I swore under my breath, but I wasn't sure if I was swearing because Team Rocket was back or because I hadn't arrived sooner to hear more of the man's speech. I stayed under the tree for a few moments, not sure what the man had done after the other man had run away. I thought over what I knew about Team Rocket: the last time anyone had heard from them was about three years ago, back when I was thirteen. I knew Giovanni was the leader back then and that the organization had been heroically disbanded by some Great Trainer. I knew that they were supposedly evil, but I had no idea what they ever did that was so evil or what their goals had been. So really I didn't know much about them at all.

I cautiously moved out from behind the tree with Joseline behind me and Rhine floating by my head. The man was gone now, and the only sound was the fall of the raindrops on the leaves of the trees on the side of the path. I didn't really know what I had been expecting, but I breathed easier knowing that there was no one in my way. The rain started to fall heavier, reducing visibility such that I couldn't see the trees on the other side of the path. I reopened my umbrella before continuing.

I walked down the middle of the path slowly, as much out of caution as for trying not to get too wet, keeping my eyes and ears open. Joseline and Rhine seemed to sense my stiffness, Joseline sticking close to my feet and Rhine rising to hover a few feet above my umbrella, supposedly keeping lookout for anything strange ahead. I wondered if she could see through the rain better than I could.

After a few minutes of walking I passed the edge of the trees, and realized I had reached another turn in the road. I was about to follow it when I noticed someone standing a few feet in front of me, the rain letting up ever so slightly. I took a few more steps forward and found myself face to face with the Team Rocket member I had seen earlier.

I swallowed hard, trying not to let my emotions show. But what was I feeling? I wasn't sure. Fear? Curiosity?

"I can't let you pass to the Well," he said, unaware of my inner stress. "The rain has made it unsafe."

I nodded, not sure what to say. I turned to follow the path as I had originally planned, my mind racing with no thoughts; I couldn't think. I didn't know what to think. What should I do?

The me back home would have run to my father to tell him about what I had seen, and left it at that. Of course, now that wasn't an option. And besides, who was to say that Team Rocket really was evil? After all, the man I had seen hadn't been threatening towards me, he had been keeping me from going somewhere unsafe. That was a good sign, right? And I still couldn't remember them doing anything at all besides being disbanded.

And besides, I was on the run. My father could be anywhere at any time. If he was searching for me, chances are he would end up here. If there was anything bad going on, he'd notice and take care of it. No need for me to get involved.

I noticed that the rain had lightened considerably, and was now down to a moderate drizzle, and I got my first sight of Azalea. The Pokemon Centre was straight ahead, so I decided to start out there. While my Pokemon were being healed the nurse was telling me things about the town. At first I wasn't really focusing on what she was saying, but then something she said caught my attention.

"...the Slowpokes are gone and their tails are being sold –"

"Wait, pardon?" I asked, my head snapping up from looking at a map of the town and surrounding area.

"Azalea is famous for its Slowpoke, which live in Slowpoke Well," the nurse repeated. "But they disappeared about a week ago and we've heard that their tails are being sold at various locations." I remembered the odd man who offered me a Slowpoketail back in Union Cave, but I thought it was just an obscure type of candy – had he been offering me the tail of an _actual_ Slowpoke? "The town is quite worried about their Pokemon, and some are offering a reward for their return."

If that bit about the Slowpoke hadn't caught my attention, the word 'reward' certainly would have. "Reward?"

"Some sum of money," the nurse replied, turning to take my Pokemon off of the machine that had just dinged. "If you want more information you can go see Kurt, up in the north-west area of town," she said, handing me my Pokemon's Pokeballs and then pointing to a house on the map I had been studying. "He's in charge of the hunt for the missing Slowpoke."

I thanked the nurse, then asked her about the path out of Azalea. She said that the only ways out were the path to the east and Ilex Forest, but she said that there was a tree blocking the path through Ilex to Goldenrod. I asked her about the tree but apparently it was a skinny tree, nothing like the asshole tree that was blocking the path from Violet to Ecruteak. She said that a Pokemon would be able to cut it down if it had the right move. As I left the Centre I couldn't help but add _Or a smart trainer could just __walk around it_.

The rain had stopped, but the clouds still looked a little dangerous so I kept the covers on my shoes but put my umbrella away in an outer pocket of my bag for easy access. I also kept my jacket on, the wind surprisingly cold.

I looked around town a fair bit before proceeding to Kurt's, seeing if there was anything of interest in Azalea. There was a Gym (had Falkner called the leader Bugsy?), and when I talked to the man outside to see if that was really the case (because what kind of a name is that?) he just started to go on about how yummy Slowpoketails were. I still didn't really know what to think of the whole chopping-Slowpoke-tails-off business.

I soon made my way to the house that the nurse had pointed out to me. The sign on the front door said "Open," so I figured that meant I could walk right in.

Inside the house had a very spacious design, with a large open area when you walked in. To my right I could see a large workshop area. There were a couple of hallways going off to my left. There were two people inside, an old man sitting on a chair straight ahead of me who was reading something and a little girl sitting on the ground slightly to my right.

The man in front of me looked up. "What do you want?" he barked.

I swallowed before answering. "The nurse at the Pokemon Centre said that you were offering a reward to-"

"Let me ask you a question," he said before standing up, and I could hear several cracks as he did so. "Have you seen any sign of Team Rocket around Azalea?"

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Yes, actually, I saw one-"

"So Will was telling the truth and wasn't seeing things. Apparently Team Rocket is back and using Pokemon for their dirty work."

I was slightly confused by his words. "How do you know they're using Pokemon for their dirty work?" I asked.

"Doesn't matter, I'm going to give them a lesson in pain!" he said before running past me and out the door with impressive speed.

"Don't worry about him," I heard a voice say, and I turned to see the little girl addressing me. "He runs off all the time, usually for nothing. There's nothing to worry about, but I do get so lonely without him..." she said trailing off.

"May I use your bathroom?" I asked. She shrugged and pointed to one of the hallways. I quickly found the bathroom and closed the door, then opened the medicine cabinet. I found some medicine for headaches (my one from Helia's Supersonic hadn't gone away) and downed a few before putting the bottle into my bag. I scanned the rest of the cabinet and helped myself to some bandages as well as some anti-bacterial ointment in case I ever got injured. Closing the cabinet I zipped my bag shut and left the bathroom.

The girl was still in the same place as before and didn't seem to notice my presence. I walked into the kitchen and released my Pokemon so that they could have some of the Pokemon food that had been left out. I went over to the fridge and opened it, and waited to see if the girl would do anything. She didn't seem to notice. I grabbed a few apples and put them into my bag, and took a bottle of soda. I closed the fridge and filled up my water bottle in the sink. I took a pear from the counter and ate it quickly as my Pokemon finished up their meal. Once they were done I returned everyone but Victor to their Pokeballs. I lifted Victor onto my shoulder and started to make my way towards the door.

"Please go help my granddad," the girl said just before I reached the door. "He needs help."

"I thought you said he would be fine," I said, turning to face her. Her eyes looked distant.

"They hurt him," she said, a tear coming to her eye. "They're mean. Go help him."

And that's when I snapped into reality. I wasn't with my parents anymore, and I wasn't going to expect – or let – my dad take care of the world's problems, and apparently I couldn't trust a crazy old man to do so either. There was something weird going on, and I was going to investigate it myself and deal with whatever it was. I was strong and independent and capable, not weak and reliant and naïve. I was going to do this myself. And chances were I would get money out of it – bonus.

"Alright," I said, turning back and opening the door. "I'll go help him."

* * *

><p>I stood in the cover of the trees, watching and waiting.<p>

The man – no, coward, scoundrel – hadn't moved from his place in front of the path to the Well since I had started to watch him. No one had come or gone either, which meant that there were more members inside – Team Rocket grunts never worked alone.

I started to formulate a plan for how to get down into the Well without the grunt noticing me. I couldn't slide down the sides because they were unstable from the rain – which had thankfully stopped – and there was no other way down besides the stairs build into the slope, which the grunt was blocking. I was strongly considering having my Gastly suffocate the grunt so that he couldn't raise the alarm when the problem was solved for me.

I couldn't see who it was, but someone coming from the town ran towards the grunt and tackled him, sending them both rolling down the stairs and out of my sight. I blinked, not quite sure what to think. I heard a few cries, a crash and a thud, and a scream of pain and a scream of anger, then all was silent.

I waited a few moments to make sure that the grunt wasn't coming back up, then stood up and left my hiding place. I proceeded towards the Well with caution, not wanting to be caught off-guard. I looked over the edge of the slope, and the stairs were clear. I proceeded down the steps, keeping my eyes and ears open. I didn't see anyone coming up or down the ladder that led into the Well, so I made my way down quickly.

When I got to the bottom I heard a groan come from behind me, so I whipped my head around and put one of my hands in my pocket, ready to pull out my Gastly's Pokeball. I looked down and found that the noise had some from an old man who was sprawled out on the ground a few feet away from the ladder – he must have been the one that tackled the grunt a minute before. I paid him no mind and continued on – I couldn't waste time dealing with him and risk getting discovered. Not that I would know what to do with a random unconscious old man at the bottom of a hole.

I peered through the one exit from the room I was in, and saw that on the other side there was a large cavern with a high ceiling and piles of rocks and dirt acting as walls of sorts, stopping me from seeing everything. On the ground a dozen feet away I saw the grunt from before leaning against one such wall, his head in his hands. The moment my eyes locked on him he looked up, and our eyes met. He scrambled to his feet, eyes wide. "The old coot tackled me and we fell down the drop," he said hurriedly. "I landed on top of him, but I'm still in a ton of pain." Something seemed to occur to him. "Hey, what are you doing down here? It's not safe, get out!" I looked at him with a deadpan expression, not so much as twitching. "Fine, if you won't answer me then I'll take my anger out on you!"

I shook my head and rolled my eyes as I released my Gastly from its Pokeball.

I made quick work of his two Rattata, and when he realized that he lost he kept mumbling about it "not being his day" as I tried to wrestle my money from him. After about ten seconds he fell down limp, my Gastly having suffocated him, and I pulled my money easily from his hand. I knew which pocket his wallet was in, so I pulled it out and searched through it. I was talking the last of the bills out of it when I heard voices behind me. I dropped the wallet and stuffed the bills into my pocket, getting to my feet and turning to face the entrance I had come through, waiting to see who would come through; there was nowhere for me to take cover. I had started to take steps backwards slowly when someone appeared in the doorway.

Sy.

* * *

><p><em>Leon?<em>

We both stopped dead in our tracks when our eyes met. I felt my insides constrict, probably from surprise.

He spoke first. "What are you doing here?" he asked, stuffing his hands into his pockets, probably so that he could clench his fists without me noticing during the taunting I was planning to dish out. I noticed a Gastly floating beside his head before it faded away into nothingness.

"They're offering a reward for whoever can find and return the Slowpokes," I said with a shrug, putting my hands in my pockets as well. "Money's nice."

He seemed to consider his words before speaking. "Leave. I'll take care of Team Rocket."

I blinked a few times in disbelief before replying. "Excuse me? I'm pretty sure I can handle them. Besides, I beat you," at this I could see his fists clench inside his jacket pockets. "So if anything you're the one who should scram."

"Do you know anything about Team Rocket?" he asked in a loud whisper, walking towards me so that we were only a few feet apart. I remained silent. "Exactly. Knowledge is power, and you have none. Now go. Away."

"I'd say you're the one without power," I said with a smirk, and he scowled. "But I'm not going anywhere; Kurt said he'd make me some special Pokeballs if I could get rid of Team Rocket, and I'd really like some to help me get the Lapras in Union Cave."

"Team Rocket will do anything for money," Leon said, looking behind him quickly. I was keeping an eye out for trouble, but I guess he didn't think I was smart enough to do that. "And they won't have mercy on some girl who thinks she's strong. You don't know what you're getting into."

"I'll take my chances, thanks," I said, stepping around him before he could stop me. I turned my head to look at him. "You coming?"

* * *

><p>I looked at her in disbelief. Was she asking me to <em>work with her<em>?

"I work alone," I replied.

"We're both going in the same direction," she said, turning her body to face mine. I turned to face her as well. She motioned to the path ahead. "We can split up when there's a break in the path or whatever, but until then I'd say two pairs of eyes are better than one."

She had a point, but I didn't want to tell her that. I just started walking, and she fell into step beside me.

When we reached a corner I put my arm out in front of her, and we crept (as in I crept and she followed) slowly forward, peeking around the corner. It was a clearing I guess you could call it, the dirt walls being further apart on either side than in the hallway we were currently standing in. In the "clearing" there was a female grunt sitting on the ground, humming as she rolled something in paper. Around her were what looked like dried out chunks of meat. We hadn't been able to hear her humming from around the corner, meaning that the walls did not cause sound to echo down the halls – a good thing, considering Sy and I had already spoken more than was wise. I pulled my head back so that she wouldn't notice me, and Sy did the same. "Go," I whispered, and Sy looked at me curiously. "Wait," I instructed. She nodded.

About a minute later I heard a thud, then proceeded around the corner. Sy followed me after moment, and she stopped when she saw the grunt's body on the ground. "Relax, she's just unconscious," I muttered, rolling my eyes.

"How...?" she asked, walking forward to join me beside the grunt's crumpled body. I bent down and searched her pockets for her wallet and Pokeballs. She had no Pokemon but I found her wallet and handed it to Sy.

"There's your money. Now let's keep moving." She looked down at the wallet with wide eyes but nodded, putting it into one of her pockets before we continued down the path.

Not far from us there was a slight turn in the path, and past it I could see that the walls dropped off, so we were probably close to the main room and the centre of operations. A thought occurred to me. I stopped walking and Sy stopped as well. "Do you know what exactly Team Rocket is doing here?" I asked her, moving against the wall. She followed.

"Apparently they stole all the Slowpokes in the town and now they're chopping their tails off to sell," Sy replied. I nodded in recognition, remembering the crazy guy that had tried to tell me Slowpoketails in Union Cave. He hadn't been dressed as a Team Rocket member so I hadn't been suspicious, but he had been a bit too persistent so he had paid anyway. It would also explain the meat the female grunt had been packaging. "Didn't you know that, all-knowing one?" she asked with a light chuckle.

I shot her a glare, but didn't otherwise acknowledge the comment. "Slowpoke's tails are similar to Staryus' appendages; they grow back, so it's like a renewable resource. They must grow back incredibly fast for Team Rocket to bother with them, usually they're only interested in get-rich-quick schemes so that they don't waste time and resources." I ran a hand through my hair, pushing my hair back before it fell back into place when I removed my hand.

"How do you know so much about Team Rocket?" Sy asked after a moment.

I turned my head quickly to look at her, and some of my hair must have hit her in the face because she jerked her upper body backwards slightly. Her eyes were still wide and staring at me. I stayed silent a moment, and decided not to answer. I turned to look down what remained of the path. "Are you sure you want to get involved in this?" I asked, deciding to give her one more chance. If things were the same this time around, there would be no un-involving herself from Team Rocket's doings. I wondered briefly why I was so worried about protecting her – it was hardly my business who Team Rocket went after.

She shrugged in response, clearly not understanding the gravity of the situation.

_Then the best way to learn is to jump right in._

* * *

><p>Leon paused and checked behind him again before speaking. "You may want to, uh, brace yourself," he said in what could only be described as hesitant awkwardness.<p>

"Against what?" Half of the things Leon said were confusing to me, but I was doing my best to keep up.

He looked at me straight in the eyes, and I felt a shiver run down my back. "They're cutting the tails off of Slowpoke. Think about what that entails."

_Oh._

I had never had to deal with large amounts of blood before, my dad always being all patched up before returning home after an incident at work. I didn't know how I was going to react, but I wasn't going to let Leon see my uncertainty, so I shrugged again. "Let's go. Unless there's anything else you'd like to fill me in on?" I said, making another fish for information.

"The grunt I defeated by the entrance had Rattata," Leon said, pulling a Pokeball out of his pocket and gripping it lightly in his hand, ready to throw it at a moment's notice. "But Team Rocket is usually fond of Poison type Pokemon. If you have any Grass, Psychic, or Ground types they'd be useful."

"Grass is weak to Poison, dumbass," I said from behind him as we crept towards the final corner. "But I don't. Do you?"

"Nope," he replied with a smirk.

"So are we working together or not?" I asked when the thought dawned on me, Leon's words leaving me unclear on the point.

"Nope," he said again. "Once we're out there, it's everyone for themselves."

I smirked as well. "Sounds good to me." Adrenaline pumped through my veins as we stepped out of the cover of the path and into the main area of the cave.

The first thing that got me wasn't the sight of blood – I actually couldn't see any – but the overwhelming smell. The cavern smelt of metal, but there was another smell underneath it as well, and I had to sniff a few times to pick up on it – a slight hint of maple. This wouldn't have been so bad on its own, but the humidity made breathing unpleasant at best. There were puddles littering the floor, with one or more small pink masses beside each one. They were clearly Slowpoke, and while I had never seen one in real life before I could tell that they just looked wrong without their tails. Further into the cavern, about five hundred feet away, it looked like some might have tails, or at least some short stub of one.

I walked towards one of the closer ones, and noticed that the ground around it was stained a darker red-brown than the other ground in the Well. I could see that the water they rested by was not clean water either, and while not opaque it was not clear. When I approached the nearest one opened its eyes and lifted its head slightly to get a better view of me before putting his head back on the ground and closing its eyes again. I got down on one knee beside it.

"Don't worry about them," I heard Leon whisper from behind me. I turned my head to look at him. He was looking down at...a PokeDex? "They're lazy Pokemon, and they don't feel pain when their tails are damaged. They may be slightly malnourished and dehydrated, but otherwise they're perfectly fine. We should deal with Team Rocket."

"What happened to 'everyone for themselves'?" I whispered with a smirk as I stood up again, brushing the dirt off my pants before walking towards him. He turned away from me and started to walk towards the far wall of the cavern, walking around the Slowpoke and puddles. He didn't say anything. "Where'd you get the PokeDex?" I asked as I followed him through the cavern, eyes and ears open. My heart was thumping hard and I had to concentrate a lot to not focus solely on the sound of it. There was no one in the cavern; I had expected there to be several people in the midst of cutting tails off, but instead there were no people to be found and all the Slowpokes were calm. I probably should have picked up on the fact that there was nothing going on when the cavern had been dead silent besides mine and Leon's -

"Leon," I whispered loudly.

"What?" he snapped over his shoulder. "Be quiet or we'll lose the element of surprise."

"I'm pretty sure they already know we're here."

"Very good," a voice from my left said. Leon and I whipped our heads around at the sound. We couldn't see anything besides the snoozing Slowpoke.

"Yes, very impressive," another voice said, this time from our right. I looked towards the sound of this one, while Leon kept his eyes trained on the left wall.

"Too bad that observation will be your last," another voice said from behind me. I turned my body to face it and the left wall, standing effectively on a diagonal. I head Leon move behind me and felt his back against mine as he turned as well so that we had a combined view of the entire room.

"Are you going to come out and fight us or hide like the cowards you are?" Leon called out into the cavern.

"If they've got nothing to prove they won't come out," I muttered under my breath.

"They have no honor, it wouldn't make a difference either way," he said at regular volume.

"Now now, you don't know us," the second voice said, and I felt Leon's muscles tense as he tried to narrow down the location of the sound. "Why so harsh?"

"I know your kind," Leon said with venom in his voice. "And I plan to put an end to every last one of you."

"Lofty goals for a kid," the last voice said. I could tell it was coming from the hallway Leon and I had come from. "Even one as old as yourself."

"We were followed," I muttered as quietly as I could, hoping only Leon would be able to pick up what I said. "Hallway."

"My my, you are bright," the same voice said, and I thought I saw a shadow move. I ran over quickly which Pokemon were where on my new belt. Rhine was technically the fastest, but if I needed a lot of distance covered Victor was my best bet. So when I needed to, first Pokeball on my belt. "Too bad you decided to stick that smart nose of yours where it doesn't belong. But tell me, didn't the two of you say you weren't going to work together?"

I felt Leon take a step away from me. "Come out and face us!" he yelled out.

"Very well then," the voice said.

I felt the air on my back move, and I turned my head slightly to catch sight of a small purple mass before I was thrown forward a dozen feet, my ears ringing from the sound of the explosion.

I landed with my face facing downwards, my stomach hitting something hard but softer than the ground – a Slowpoke. My knees hit the ground beside the Slowpoke's body. I couldn't move for a moment, unable to breathe, but I was more concerned with the pain I was in. My back was burning hot, as was my neck, the back of my head, and the left side of my face. Shocked, it took a great deal of presence of mind to use my arms to push my stomach off of the Slowpoke so that my weight wouldn't restrict my breathing.

I gasped for air, and I could taste smoke – the explosion must have caused my top to catch on fire, which would explain the intense heat. I let myself collapse, rolling over and off the Slowpoke, my back resting in one of the filthy puddles. My back cooled down immediately and the feeling was pleasant. I moved my body downwards to get my head wet as well, not sure if my hair had caught fire too. I was breathing heavily as I lay there for a few moments, trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing. I caught sight of movement out of the corner of my eye, and forced myself to get up. As I struggled to my feet I pulled Victor's Pokeball off my belt, releasing him. He flew off immediately, supposedly to deal with the nearest foe.

My head was spinning, so I had to stop when I reached my knees to let it settle down. I looked around carefully, the movement of my eyes causing unease in my stomach. Leon was up and fighting, calling out commands to his Pokemon that I could barely hear over the ringing in my ears. I could see the female grunt from earlier walking towards me, an evil grin on her face and a Pokeball in her hand. "Victor," I croaked, my throat dry from breathing in the dirty air. I swallowed, and repeated myself, this time louder. Victor glided over my head towards the woman, bringing a breath of wind along with him that felt wonderful on my still burning skin. Once it passed the pain returned, but I ignored it to deal with the task at hand, my head clearer. I made it to my feet, my feet spread far apart as my balance still wasn't perfect.

Victor flew towards her for another moment before she fell backwards, Victor having used Gust. He made a sharp turn to fly back to me with the last of his altitude, and he landed on my shoulder gracefully. She was back on her feet quickly, sneering at me as she continued to approach. I felt Victor tense to launch himself into the air, but I said "Don't" under my breath.

"You're pretty tough, to already be on your feet after a blast like that," she said once she was closer. I could only just hear her, but didn't show this by leaning forward like I wanted to. "Not as strong as your friend though, he was up almost immediately. What's up with him?"

"We're not friends," I replied, putting my hands on my hips and straightening my body. "What caused the explosion?" I asked, buying myself time to get all my senses back.

"A nice thing called a Koffing," she replied with a close-mouthed grin. "They can explode on command." She held the Pokeball in her hand up, and it seemed to absorb everything around it. "It'll reform once it's healed," she explained. "But in the meantime, I have other means of disposing of you." Dropping the Pokeball in her pocket, she caught a Pokeball that flew through the air from my right – in the direction the first voice had come from. Observing the angle quickly, I deduced that it came from the wall on my right, slightly behind where I now stood.

She didn't give me time to try and find the source though – as soon as she had the Pokeball in her grasp she released the Pokemon inside it. All I saw was a small purple mass flying straight for my face, and even Victor didn't have time to react. Another small purple mass knocked it off course, however, and it fell to the ground. I was able to see it now – an Ekans, and on top of it was a Zubat.

"You're in no shape to fight," I heard Leon say faintly behind me, and I turned to see him standing only a couple of feet behind me. I opened my mouth to reply, but he stopped me. "Get out of here while you still can." Behind him I saw a grunt collapsed over a Slowpoke with a Rattata and two Zubat lying motionless beside him.

"I'll stop both of you," the grunt across from me said, and I turned back to her. "We're under direct orders from Executive Proton to stop anyone who messes with this operation."

"Executive Proton?" I asked.

"I'll take care of him, now get out," Leon said, getting in front of me.

"Oh yeah-?" I said, about to argue, when I realized that this left me free to investigate the source of the female grunt's flying Pokeball. Smirking I started to make my way over to the far wall. "I'll show your stupid face," I muttered, clenching my fist, wishing I could punch Leon in the face at that moment. But that could wait until after we were done down here.

As I approached the wall I saw a hole in it slightly shorter than I was, hidden in the shadows by a slight overhang in the wall. I was about to bend down to peak inside when I heard a voice behind me. "Get away from there!" I turned and saw another grunt standing a dozen feet behind me. That comment was all I needed.

I dove inside the opening, and I scrambled to close the wooden door that was hinged inside. There was a bolt that I promptly dropped into place. I heard something throw itself against the door before all was silent on the other side. _Leon can take care of him_.

"Well hello there," someone said from behind me. _Fuck_. I turned around to see who had spoken. It was a man with green hair standing behind a desk that sat in the middle of the small office-sized room. "And who might you be?"

I swallowed again. "You need to stop selling the Slowpoke tails and return the Slowpoke to their owners."

"Ha!" the man said with a short laugh. "You're one of those. If we listened to any of the self-righteous brats that came around trying to take us down our rep would be ruined. Do you know who I am?"

"Executive Proton?" I guessed. He wore different clothing than the grunts had, so I figured I was right but still said it as a question.

"You'd be correct," he said, walking around to the front of the desk before leaning on it. "I'm considered the cruelest and scariest guy in Team Rocket. Do you know why that is?"

"Because you project an air of cruelty to put fear into those that have to deal with you?" I said, wondering how he'd react.

He seemed to study me for a moment. "You seem like a pretty smart kid, figuring out that we already knew that you were here," he said, putting his finger to his chin as he considered his words. "Why would you interfere with us? A smart girl like yourself should know that it's dangerous to get involved with criminals."

I thought back briefly to my dad's outburst at me the night I ran away, but pushed the memory aside. "I was offered a reward if I could get the Slowpoke back."

"Ah, so this is about money then. And your friend with the red hair, is that why he's here as well? Money?"

I thought for a moment. "I have no idea why Leon's here," I said. "Come to think of it, he didn't even know what you guys were doing here until I told him. He just barged down here because he saw you guys I guess."

"Did you say that his name is Leon?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

"Nothing, nothing," Proton said, looking at the ceiling in thought. I glanced up there was well, not trusting anything after the Koffing bomb, before looking at his face again. "No matter where we go there's always going to be someone who doesn't agree with us. But it's the same with other people and groups as well – politicians, activist groups – we're really not that different. We're after something as well." He paused.

"What?" I asked, thinking that's what he wanted me to do before he continued his little monologue.

"Shh," he said, still looking at the ceiling. "Do you know why people join Team Rocket in the first place?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Well, ...– what's your name?" I didn't say anything. "Come now, what harm could come from giving me your name?"

_You could tell my dad – wait, this guy is in Team Rocket. The police i__s his__ enemy as well._ With that, I said "Sy."

"Well, Sy, I think I have a proposal you'll like, but first I'll have to battle you to test out your strength. What do you say?"

"I say we battle, and if I win you return the Slowpoke and leave."

He chuckled, finally looking down from the ceiling and at my face. "Very well, selling the Slowpoketails was harder than we thought anyway," he said with a shrug, pushing himself off the desk and standing straight. "Come, there's a larger room just through here that we can use to battle," he said, walking through a doorway I hadn't noticed.

I followed him a moment later, after muttering to Victor to be careful, not sure what tricks Proton may have had up his sleeve. We entered a large area, with ground in front of us 200 feet long and 50 feet across. On our right was some water, and far across it I could see some more dry ground. Proton already stood at the opposite end of this dry area with a Pokeball in his hand. "Ready, Sy?" he said, but I could barely hear it – I read his lips to be sure that that was what he said.

I nodded. Proton released the Pokemon from the Pokeball – a Zubat. "Victor, the usual," I said, and felt wind on my back as Victor sent himself into the air. The Zubat opened its mouth for a Supersonic but I couldn't hear anything. I felt pressure build in my head and knew it was still affecting me, and felt my headache get worse. I covered my ears, hoping to reduce the sound as much as possible. Victor had flown to the left wall of the room and had completely avoided the attack, and released a Gust at the Zubat from that point, sending it crashing into the right wall. It got back up and into the air again, but I could see a large bleeding gash in its head. It opened its mouth for another Supersonic, but Victor Gusted it right back into the wall before it could get anything out. It didn't move after that.

"Impressive," Proton's lips said, returning the Zubat to its Pokeball. He pulled another one from his pocket, and released a Koffing. Victor glanced back at me from his vantage point a dozen feet in the air. I nodded at him, showing that I wanted him to stay in there. He sent a Gust in the Koffing's direction, dispersing most of the Koffing's gases. I smiled lightly before my face fell when I saw the gases gather back together and head in Victor's direction. Before he could summon a Gust to blow them away from himself they had surrounded his head, and no matter what manoeuvre he did it stayed glued to his face. I saw his body convulse slightly, and I hoped he was only coughing.

I was about to call him back to his Pokeball when the gases finally released his face, and he looked quite sick, his eyes bloodshot and mouth hanging open, desperate for air. The gases returned to the Koffing's main body before it started to rise rapidly towards Victor in what I guessed would be a Tackle. Victor saw it coming, though, and dived towards it himself as a Quick Attack. As he fell a light enveloped him and I gasped, not sure whether it was the Koffing's doing somehow or if Victor had learnt another move. I saw the Koffing get thrown to the ground with incredible speed, and it rolled slightly along the ground, completely unconscious. I looked up to find that Victor was no longer a Pidgey – he had evolved! His new Pidgeotto wings were spread wide as he glided upwards, letting out a triumphant cry. I smiled wide and clapped a couple of times in excitement before I remembered that Proton was still there.

I looked across the room at him; he had already returned the Koffing and seemed to be deep in thought again. He caught my gaze and smiled lightly before walking towards me. Victor landed beside me, and I could tell that he was poisoned. I pulled an Antidote from one of my pockets – I had left my bag with Kurt so that it didn't weigh me down – and administered it quickly.

"That was very impressive," Proton said once he was closer. I put the empty Antidote bottle back into my pocket and stood up to face him. "I see other Pokeballs on your belt, are all your Pokemon as strong as your Pidgeotto?"

"What's it to you? It's obvious that he can kick your ass."

"Not giving away your secrets, good move," Proton said, nodding.

"You lost, now you have to leave," I said.

"Yes yes, we will," Proton said, making a shooing motion with his hand. "But first, let's go back to my office."

"Why?" I asked, narrowing my eyes in suspicion.

"Well, I suppose we can discuss it here, but it's so much nicer in there," he shrugged, then continued. "You desire money, correct?"

I crossed my arms, keeping my guard up. "I need it to get by."

"And what about power?"

"I'd say I already have it, since I beat you."

"No, not that kind of power." I frowned in confusion. "Power in the world, over other people."

"I don't get what you're trying to say."

"Join Team Rocket."

I felt the muscles in my chest constrict, but I couldn't tell why. "I-"

"Just hear me out," Proton said, holding a hand up to stop me. "You will get money and power. With your strength – and just so we're clear, you're very, very strong – you would easily get a high rank and a lot of power and control within the organization."

"How do I know you don't just suck?" I asked.

"How long have you been a trainer?" he asked me.

It took me a moment to figure it out. "Three days."

I saw his eye widen considerably before he controlled his surprise. "Have you had time to get any gym badges in those three days?"

I wasn't sure whether I should keep flaunting my achievements, but I decided to answer him anyway. "I beat Falkner last night."

If he was surprised he hid it this time. "Do you know how long it takes someone to get strong enough to stand a chance against a gym leader, let alone a Team Rocket Executive such as myself?" I shook my head. "Weeks, even months."

"I doubt that-"

"You would have seen the junior trainers in Falkner's gym," Proton said. "Do you think they'd still be there if they had defeated Falkner? Do you think gyms cycle through trainers every few days? It just doesn't happen."

"Are you calling me a prodigy or something to inflate my ego?"

"I'm just saying that you're abnormally good, and that you'd be recognized for your strength." I considered his words. "We'd also offer you protection, say from the police." My eyes widened slightly. "I saw you in the police files," he said with a smirk. "You've done a very good job disguising yourself, changing your hair and all, and I wouldn't have recognized you if you hadn't given me your name. The burns don't help either – you'll want to get cream for them when you get back to Azalea. But all I'm saying is that there's power in numbers, and you'd be in control of those numbers."

I opened my mouth but closed it again, trying to come up with a reply.

"You don't have to decide right now," he said, heading towards the opening that led to his office. "Think it over. I'll have someone waiting for you in the lighthouse in Olivine City. Give your reply to them whenever you make your way there." He went through the opening, but I was glued to my place. Everything Proton had said was running through my head, and I felt overwhelmed.

Victor chirped up at me from his place on the ground beside me. He was three times as big as he was when he was a Pidgey, and I knew he wouldn't be able to ride around on my shoulder anymore. I looked down at him and gave him a smile, bending down slightly to ruffle the new, long red feather on his head. "Good job bud," I said. He looked up at me. "Let's go make sure he follows through on our deal, otherwise we'll have to give him another beating," I said, grinning at the last part. "Keep an ear out though, my hearing's still not great." Victor bobbed his head in a nod.

Victor was incredibly adept at walking around on the ground, which was a good thing because with his larger wings he wouldn't have been able to fly through the doorway that led to Proton's office. I walked through first, and saw that Proton wasn't there, though the desk was. I noticed that all the drawers were open and empty, meaning that Proton must have taken everything, which was a good sign. The wooden door was also hanging open. Victor moved in front of me and walked towards the door and peaked out. He gave a chirp and looked back at me, motioning with his head for me to go and look. I did, and I was surprised to see that Leon was the only one left in the cavern. His head was down as if he was focusing on something.

I walked towards him, and when my feet splashed in a puddle he looked up, his arm twitching slightly before he registered that it was me. He glared at me angrily until I got closer, then he spoke. "Why didn't you let me take care of Proton?"

I raised both my eyebrows as I looked at him in disbelief. "Excuse me, but you weren't letting me do anything. What else was I supposed to do, stand around while you did all the work?"

"Yes."

"What the fuck?"

"You may be here for money, but I'm here to get rid of Team Rocket once and for all."

"Well excuse me for wanting the monetary reward. Adventuring gear is expensive."

I saw him look me up and down. "It must be shit quality, because your shirt is falling apart."

I felt at my sides and back with my left hand – it came away with soot on it, and I felt my shirt crumble slightly from my touch. I wondered if I would have been better off if I had kept my jacket on – I had taken it off when I was with Kurt – but figured it was cheaper to replace a tank top than a jacket. "Well sorry for not buying things that are explosion-proof. What's your deal though? One of the grunts said that you were on your feet right after the explosion, while I was half incapacitated."

"I know how to deal with them," he said before turning away from me and starting to head for the exit. "Come on, let's get out of here."

"Now wait just a minute," I said, following after him. "Why in the world would you know how to 'deal' with explosions? Are you some sort of secret agent spy ninja or something?" After I said it I thought back to his acrobatics of sorts in Sprout Tower. Didn't seem too farfetched a statement.

I heard him sigh before turning around to face me, and we both stopped walking. "Listen, just because I let you tag along here doesn't mean we're friends or on good terms or anything like that."

"Tag along? I was going to go whether you were here or not. I was not 'tagging along!'" I said, clenching my fists at my side and taking a step closer to him to be right in his face. "I'd have been fine on my own."

"Funny, same here," he sneered at me before turning around and starting to walk again before he stopped. "You go ahead," he said. "I'll stay back and wait until you clear the old guy out."

"Oh, so now I have a job?" I said from my original location, not having moved when he started walking. "Maybe I should let you deal with him since I took care of Proton."

"I thought you wanted the money," Leon said, turning back to look at me over his shoulder. He had a good point. "Now go and hurry up, I don't want to be stuck down here forever."

I smirked as I walked slowly by him, sticking my tongue out as I passed him. I saw him frown and could feel his glare as I walked away, jumping over and around Slowpoke as I made my way to the exit.

* * *

><p>I watched as Sy made her way to the exit, glaring at the back of her head all the while. My eyes strayed to her exposed back more times than I would have liked (as in at all), and I felt my face flood with heat.<p>

My Gastly materialized beside my head, grinning at me as it noticed the situation. I let out a low growl and returned it to its Pokeball.

* * *

><p>I found Kurt where I had left him, but we was sitting up – he said his back was feeling better, so we went back to Azalea – it was dark out by then. He collected the Pokeballs for all the missing Slowpoke and we went back down the Well to collect them all before returning them all to their owners. There was one that didn't get absorbed into a Pokeball, so I decided to catch it myself – I named him Joshua, and he was a quiet level six male that was proud of his power, which hopefully he had a lot of. As Kurt and I returned the residents' Slowpoke I had the idea that I could use Joshua to cross the water where I had battled Proton and explore the Well further.<p>

Once Kurt and I were done returning the Pokemon we went back to his house, and he gave me a Fast Ball and 10 000д as my reward. He also said he'd be happy to make me some custom Pokeballs from Apricorns – I left him with two Black Apricorns (which he said would become Heavy Balls, which would be perfect for catching Lapras) and my phone number so he could call me once they were done, but I told him not to tell anyone that he had met me or knew me, and not to give the number to anyone else. He laughed at me, but said that since I acted like such a hero in the Well I must have my reasons, so he agreed. He never asked for my name.

After leaving his house I went to the Pokemon Centre to heal Victor before heading to the Well to explore it, hoping to find some good items and save myself some money. When I entered the Pokemon Centre I was very surprised to see Leon there, using the PC. He seemed flustered when I jumped behind him and surprised him, causing him to flinch (!). I found out that he had just now come from the Well, having caught himself a Slowpoke to explore the Well as I had planned to. He told me not to bother, since Slowpoke couldn't swim (or Surf as he called it). He said he was heading out to Ilex Forest, and I said I'd go to the gym the next day instead – I was feeling confident since I had seen no sign of police anywhere in the town, so I decided that my departure could wait until the afternoon.

"I hope you get torn limb from limb," Leon said before turning to leave the Pokemon Centre.

"I hope you get swarmed by Beedrill!" I called out to his retreating form. He didn't acknowledge my comment, but I smiled as I continued on with my business.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes <strong>– For my entire life I've thought that it was Ixel Forest, but then I actually have to type the thing out and it's actually Ilex. WHAT IS THIS MADNESS.

Yay for body language hints I learnt from sociology class~

Some TrainerCardShipping moments in there for Odile =3

I went back to last chapter and gave Sy an extra black tank top so that she could dispose of the one that got exploded on this chapter (the exploding Koffing wasn't part of the plan until I wrote this chapter).

I was honestly having fangasms over my own fic as I wrote this chapter; WHAT DO YOU THINK WHAT DO YOU THINK WHAT DO YOU THINK? If there's one chapter that I really want reviews for it's this one, so please review =3


	10. Day 4: Bugsy, Ilex Forest, and Drew

_My Main Pokemon:_

_Soren – Cyndaquil  
><em>_Victor – Pidgeotto  
><em>_Kadela – Weedle  
><em>_Joseline – Bellsprout  
><em>_Rhine – Gastly  
><em>_Helia – Zubat_

"_I hope you get torn limb from limb," Leon said before turning to leave the Pokemon Centre._

"_I hope you get swarmed by Beedrill!" I called out to his retreating form. He didn't acknowledge my comment, but I smiled as I continued on with my business._

When I finished in the Pokemon Centre my eyes weren't feeling heavy yet, but I knew that I needed to sleep either way. I briefly debated going back to Kurt's and seeing if he'd let me stay the night, but I decided against that and proceeded to the woods north-east of his house instead. I didn't find a clearing in the first few hundred feet in, so I just chose a smooth spot without roots to settle down in for the night.

When I removed my shirt I felt the pain of my burns, and I realized that I forgot to buy burn ointment when I was still in town, but I was already sitting down and the day was starting to catch up with me. A thought occurred to me, and I dug through my bag to pull out my one and only Burn Heal, which I had found at some point during the day, I couldn't remember where. Releasing the safety I positioned it behind my neck and squirted it on my neck.

I dropped the bottle and clenched my hand as the spray hit my skin, stinging more than the explosion had. I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes, breathing in sharply. The pain subsided to bearable after about twenty seconds. I wiped at my eyes (which had watered slightly from the force with which I was clenching them shut) before feeling at my neck gingerly to see if the Burn Heal had caused any more damage. The skin felt smooth, and while tender it didn't hurt when I touched it.

Encouraged, I reached back for the bottle and sprayed a small amount on my shoulder where I'd be able to see the effects it had. I was able to brace myself but the pain was just as bad the second time around. Once I was able I opened my eyes and looked at the skin on my shoulder. It was still red, but the wrinkling and cracking had smoothed out, and when I touched it it also only felt tender instead of hot and painful.

Over the course of the next several minutes I applied the Burn Heal to all my burns (spraying it on my hands and applying it to the skin on my face, afraid of what would happen if I accidentally got some in my eyes). As I sat through the pain I wondered if it was painful for Pokemon to receive these medicines too, or if the pain was a human allergic reaction to something in the solution. Victor always seemed happy when I sprayed him with a Potion, but then again the Potion was meant to heal the wounds of an already weak Pokemon, so perhaps it was an exception, and the same for Antidotes. I decided to watch Victor's reaction closely when (if?) he got burned and I gave him a Burn Heal.

I had stripped off my tank top to apply the Burn Heal to my back, and as I looked at it on the ground beside me I knew it was a lost cause, the back almost completely gone. It was cool but not cold out so I put my jacket on and took my emergency blanket out of my bag but didn't unfold it.

I lay down on the ground, resting my head in the crook of my elbow. I fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up at some point very early in the morning (the light of the sun just starting to appear), but I closed my eyes and fell asleep again. When I woke up again it wasn't quite noon, and while my eyes were heavy I decided that I needed to get moving and defeat the Gym.

I pulled one of my other tank tops out of my bag and put it on. I looked down at my burned tank top, and decided to take it with me in case I ever hurt myself and needed the extra cloth. I used my scissors to cut off the completely burned parts and put what was left at the bottom of my bag under the rest of my clothes. I gave my hair a quick brush, packed up my bag, and made my way back into town.

I stopped at Kurt's first to pick up my Pokeballs, and he had just been sitting down to lunch and offered me some food. I had been planning on getting food next, so I agreed. There was some small talk as we ate, but I was more concerned with filling myself up. He gave my Pokemon some food as well, so they'd be ready for the gym in the afternoon.

Before I left I gave Kurt my Red Apricots, and he said he'd try and have them ready for me by the end of the afternoon, since I mentioned that I would be moving on after taking on the gym. After thanking him for the food and returning my Pokemon, I left. After a stop at the Mart for Antidotes (a bug gym? My Pokemon were sure to be poisoned at least once) I still had over 10 000д left over, and I felt rich now that each trip wasn't putting me back down to ground zero. Satisfied that I was prepared I finally headed to the gym, a slight knot in my stomach that may have been from fullness or nervousness.

When I entered the gym I found myself in a small entrance room, with a door that must lead to the rest of the gym. There was only one person in the room, a short fat guy – the same one from Falkner's gym? Before I could ask anything he started talking, explaining that the gym was essentially a giant nest, and that the bug Pokemon the trainers used didn't like fire (oh, you don't say?) or flying-type moves. At that I realized that this would be another Victor-domination – not that that was a problem, of course.

I released Victor, then pulled the double doors ahead of me open. I couldn't help but feel that I was making a grand entrance, but I couldn't see anyone – ahead of me there was a long-ish hallway with what looked like grass at the end. I shrugged, and walked through, Victor walking along behind me (he was very good at walking, which was good since he wouldn't have been able to spread his wings in that hallway).

Once I was through the hallway I found myself at the edge of a giant chasm. Thick white tubing that was probably supposed to look like or imitate an Ariados web connected both sides, the image further encouraged by the Ariados-shaped vehicle thing in front of me that I supposed was for riding from side of the chasm to the other. I noted that there seemed to be several different paths the vehicle could take along the tubing, unless the extra tubing was just for decoration.

Victor and I stepped into the vehicle, and were moved across the chasm to our first opponent.

To make a short story even shorter, we Gusted our way through all the junior trainers. Victor gained several levels, and during a double battle I accidentally sent out Soren (I made a mental note to mark everyone's Pokeballs at some point so I wouldn't make a similar mistake again), and he gained a level from that.

During our last battle Victor managed to break one of the web piping pieces with an extremely strong Gust (it was a good thing I had been bracing against them or I might have been thrown back into the chasm – the Spinark that the attack had been aimed against was thrown almost to the other side before it was retracted back into its Pokeball), so I didn't even have to worry about the switches that controlled the web layout after that – after entering the vehicle again it took us straight to the gym leader, whom Kurt had called Bugsy (okay seriously did she have her name changed or what?). I had seen pictures of Bugsy on the internet along with pictures of other gym leaders, and I was in for a big surprise when _he_ spoke.

"Welcome to Azalea gym, challenger. I'm Bugsy -"

"Wait, you're a GUY?" I said out loud before I could stop myself. I covered my mouth with my hand. "Sorry. Pictures are deceiving. Please continue."

Bugsy had raised his eyebrows at my outburst, but continued on as if I hadn't interrupted him. _Him_. "I'm going to become the authority on Bug Pokemon someday, so allow me to demonstrate what I've learned through my studies. I hope you're well prepared, because when it comes to Bug types, I _never_ lose!" he said that last bit with a smile before pulling a Pokeball out of his pocket and releasing a Scyther.

I motioned for Victor to go forward, whispering "Quick attack" as he passed to stand in front of me. I felt a slight breeze at my back as he prepared to propel himself forward in his attack.

After a few attacks Victor had barely damaged the Scyther at all. I was getting a little concerned, then I remembered the move Victor had learned during training earlier. "Victor, use Whrilwind," I said. I felt the wind spin around us and Bugsy's Scyther was lifted off the ground then thrown towards Bugsy, forcing him to return it before they collided. The wind pulled one of his other Pokeballs into the air, and a Kakuna was released. "That's better," I said with a grin. "Gust!"

It was a one hit knock out.

Bugsy didn't seem to be bother by the fact that he had just lost his Kakuna. Without a word he released his Scyther again. I saw that he still had one more Pokeball, so I decided to bring Victor in to heal before finishing the battle – he was pretty low on health, so I figured I'd need at least two turns to get him back to normal with Potions. I ran my fingers over my belt, trying to decide who to send out. I ran through strengths and weaknesses quickly, trying to find someone who would be safe against the Scyther for a round or two. My memory was failing me and I had to withdraw Victor before the Scyther attacked, so I went with the first option that sounded logical in my head. "Kadela, go!" I said, releasing her from her Pokeball, and she landed in front of the Scyther.

I knew immediately that that had been a very, very bad idea.

Without so much as a word from Bugsy the Scyther reached out with one of its arms and cut Kadela's head off.

My hand, that had been feeling around one of my pockets for a Potion, froze. My eyes widened and my mouth fell open as I stared at the two halves of Kadela's body. I felt something rise up in my throat – not bile, but the spit the precedes it. I swallowed and kept my throat tensed.

I looked past the Scyther at Bugsy, who was looking straight ahead with unfocused eyes. I could see his clenched jaw though.

My hand found a Super Potion and I pulled it out before dropping down to one knee beside Victor to apply it to his wounds quickly (the Scyther had managed to scratch him with its blades a few times when he got too close). For once Victor was completely still and quiet, his eyes fixed on Kadela. The world around me felt like it was frozen.

I finished healing Victor and stood back up, depositing the empty bottle back into my pocket. The grass around Kadela's body was now stained with red, and I wondered whether I could still withdraw her into her Pokeball. I clicked her Pokeball and first her head, then her body were withdrawn back into it. I cleared my throat, not feeling like I'd be able to get a clear word out. "Whrildwind," I said, the last syllable catching slightly on the coating in my throat. It felt like I had eaten a platefull of salty fries without so much as a sip of water.

Victor hopped forward with the wind he stirred up, and I was almost lifted off my feet before Victor focused the spinning air on the Scyther. Bugsy had heard my command and had his Pokeball at the ready to withdraw his Scyther. A Metapod was released from his last remaining Pokeball. I opened my mouth to give a command to Victor but he had already unleashed a powerful Gust that sent the Metapod straight into the wall behind Bugsy, and there was an audible crunch that seemed to echo through the otherwise silent gym.

Bugsy turned to look over his shoulder before returning the Metapod to its Pokeball and sending out his Scyther once again. When he turned back around his expression was what I could only describe as hard, and I imagined it mirrored my own at that point. "It's usually at this point in the battle that I say that bugs are tough," Bugsy said as he pocketed the Metapod's Pokeball. "But I think we both know better than that – not all of them are." He paused. "Focus Energy," he said to his Scyther, which proceeded to close its eyes as it carried out the command.

My brain was mulling Bugsy's words over when I caught sight of Victor's eyes. Normally they were open wide, almost innocent-looking. And above all, happy – always, always happy. But they were narrowed, and he didn't look like himself.

He looked like Leon.

_Did he kill the Metapod on purpose?_ The thought ran through my head, because I was sure that after the sound it made on impact that it was dead. I could feel the Gust Victor sent in the Scyther's direction, and it was probably only due to its mass that it wasn't blown backwards by the attack. _I should have him try and combine Whirlwind and Gust for strength_, I thought before bringing my mind back to the task at hand. That task being that I wasn't sure if my Pokemon was on a murderous rampage, and that I had to stop him if he was.

My eyes focused on the Scyther when I saw movement, and I saw it eat a Sitrus berry. "Fuck," I muttered, suppressing a groan of frustration. I wanted to stop my Pokemon from being a murderer, but there was no guarantee that the Scyther would hesitate to decapitate another one of my Pokemon if given the opportunity.

In that moment, Pokemon battling had never felt so real, and I had never felt so alive.

My focus was renewed, and it was as if Victor sensed it as well because the next Gust he unleashed sent the Scyther rolling to the side; it was weakening, though Victor still wasn't doing as much damage as I would have liked. The Scyther sent a Leer in Victor's direction as it returned to its feet and prepared to attack. At a word from Bugsy, however, it retreated to his side. Bugsy gave it a Super Potion, and I wanted to hit something.

The Scyther was back in the battle in a flash, catching both Victor and I off-guard. It hit Victor with a Quick Attack, and its aim was right on – the Focus Energy must have helped. Victor started bleeding profusely, and I called him back immediately. I gave him another Super Potion, and he was good as new. As I was applying it I whispered to him. "Calm down, okay? Just knock the Scyther out, don't kill it, all right? There's time to be angry and sad later, once we win this." I couldn't place the way Victor was looking at me, what he was trying to tell me without words. I only hoped he listened to me.

But why should he, really? The Scyther had killed Kadela – thinking it felt more like stating a fact than something that had actually happened in front of my eyes, but I felt a twist in my gut all the same – and revenge was a logical retaliation.

I closed my eyes and breathed out heavily. Just because it was logical didn't make it right. Did it?

Victor jumped away from me and towards the Scyther in a Quick Attack, but the Scyther must have anticipated that that was what he'd try because it avoided the attack. Luckily its attack missed its mark as well. Victor turned around quickly and tried to land another Quick Attack, but the Scyther dodged again. Dodging Victor caused it to lose its balance, however, and before it could recover and attack Victor he used Gust and sent the Scyther flying – a critical hit most likely.

Needless to say, the Scyther didn't get up, but I was pretty sure it was still breathing, which caused me to be sigh in relief. Bugsy withdrew it for a final time and stepped forward. We met in the centre of the clearing.

"You're quite the Pokemon expert," he said, holding out my victory money – 1800д! – and my new badge. "The Hive Badge will ensure that Pokemon up to level 30 obey your every command." He pulled a TM out of one of his pockets. "Take this as well. It's TM89, U-Turn. I think it would work well if combined with Whirlwind." He paused, looking at a point over my shoulder. "I am – sorry about what happened during the battle. It happens, it's just a fact of this sort of life – which is something you may want to include in your calculations as you continue to develop your strategy." I blinked and he shrugged before turning away. "Good luck," he said before I turned away as well. Victor had used Gust to glide over the chasm towards the exit, and I hurried to catch up.

When we got outside I saw that it was mid afternoon. I took a breath in my eyes widened as I remembered again. Kadela was dead. Decapitated. Killed. Because of my own stupidity.

What had I been thinking? I had decided she wasn't cut out for battling, so I hadn't been training her, she was small and weak and so innocent and didn't _deserve to be dead_. Bug types aren't resistant to bug attacks for crying out loud!

My face started to burn, and I could feel the pressure of tears building behind my eyes. I took a deep breath (which almost turned into a sob) and blinked rapidly, taking quick steps towards the Pokemon Centre. I wouldn't let my grief get in the way of logic and survival.

I almost broke down again when the nurse asked for my Pokemon and I almost handed her Kadela's Pokeball. I grabbed a permanent marker from the counter and put it in my pocket while her back was turned – I still needed to mark the Pokeballs of my other Pokemon.

I knew that I had to get out of Azalea, so once I had my Pokemon back I went straight for Ilex Forest. Bug Pokemon were supposed to be abundant there – I would catch another Weedle.

My thoughts were scattered and incomplete as I stumbled through the darkness in the forest. I happened upon a Kakuna not far in, and decided to catch it. One Nightshade courtesy of Rhine and one Pokeball later, he was mine. The name Kaiden came to mind, but I didn't even take the time to look at his information on my PokeDex, because I was full out crying by the end of the battle.

I continued along the path with my eyes closed half the time, my balance off from the tears that leaked from my eyes. I'm pretty sure I was talking to myself and making other noises, but I wasn't registering anything that was happening around me. For the first time ever I understood the expression "blinded by grief." I had Rhine out, and she must have been keeping the bugs at bay.

Of course, she didn't warn me before I ran into something. Well, someone.

Leon, of all people.

I could see the surprise on his face when he looked down and saw mine. I straightened and took a step back, wiping at my face with the back of my arm, resisting the urge to sniffle. Leon had his eyebrows raised when I looked at him again.

"So I take it the gym didn't go so well? Figures."

"For your information I won," I snapped, wiping at my face to get the water I had missed. He waited for me to continue, and I reluctantly did. "But there were casualties. Well, one on my side, anyway."

"You lost a Pokemon," he stated. It wasn't a question. I nodded, and he chuckled. "That's what's got you so worked up? And here I was starting to gain some respect for you-"

"Stop!" I yelled, the volume and strength of my voice surprising me. His eyebrows and lips twitched in amusement, making me angrier. "Just stop and shut up and leave me alone, okay?"

"Get over yourself," Leon said, crossing his arms. "Just crush the Pokeball and move on, there's nothing you can do about it now."

I opened my mouth to say something, then paused. "Crush the Pokeball?"

Leon nodded. "Easiest way to deal with a corpse, since I doubt any of your Pokemon know Dig."

I hadn't yet given any thought with what to do with Kadela now that she was...no longer with us. "I've read about the temple in Lavender Town – there's nowhere like that in Johto?"

"Nope. And if you were thinking about it, Lavender Town is a bit far for a detour."

"I'm not stupid," I snapped at him again, my hands becoming fists at my side. "And don't you dare say could have fooled me."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Leon said in what was clearly sarcasm. I glared at him. "So, did the old man give you the money?"

It took me a moment to figure out what Leon was referring to. "Hmm, yeah. Wait, dammit, I didn't pick up my Pokeballs," I said, letting out a huff of frustration. Talking to Leon was distracting me, though, which I guess was a good thing. "Oh well, it would take too long to go back anyway," I said, not mentioning that I had no idea where I was in the forest, which way to go, nor how far in I actually was. I saw a path to my right slightly behind Leon, and decided it was a good a path as any at this point. I could get my bearings once he was out of my face. I went to walk past him and follow it. "Now if you'll excuse me-"

"It's a dead end," Leon said without even turning his head to look where I was heading. "And you were heading in the wrong direction anyway. The main path is back the other way."

"So what are you doing down here then?" I asked, turning back to face him and crossing my arms.

He shrugged. "Investigating. Sometimes people drop items, plus some rare Pokemon tend to stay away from the main paths." I could see the smirk on the edge of his face from my place behind him. "You have no idea where you are, do you?"

"Of course I do, I'm in Ilex Forest," I replied, hoping the sarcasm would mask that fact that I was actually lost. He snorted. "Okay fine smartass, I wasn't watching where I was going and I lack a bearing. Happy?"

"Doesn't matter to me whether you're lost or not," he said with a shrug before he started walking back the way I had come. I caught up to him quickly and fell in step with him. "Did I say you could follow me?" he asked after a few moments.

"Like you could stop me if you tried."

"Is that a challenge?"

"I don't know, is it?"

Leon glanced over at me before returning his eyes to the path ahead. Leon's Gastly and Rhine were about eighty feet ahead of us, clearing away any Pokemon that ventured onto the path in front of us. "And what do you plan on doing once you reach Goldenrod?" he asked, changing the subject.

My eyes widened and I pulled my PokeGear out of my pocket, turning it on and moving quickly to the map application. There it was, north of our current position – Goldenrod. _Fuck_, I thought, having forgotten that I'd be passing by there next. Not wanting Leon to notice my slight panic, I concentrated on keeping my voice even as I came up with a vague answer. "I probably won't stay long, then I'll head north up to Ecruteak." A thought occurred to me. "Shit, that'll only work if the creepy tree's gone."

"So you've encountered it huh?" Leon said as we turned onto what must be the main path he was referring to. I didn't notice much difference between it and the path we had just been on. I looked up at the sky through the thick tree covering above us and could see the intense light from the sun coming from our left. So we were heading north then – makes sense that the main path would be direct. "It's still there, and probably won't be moving any time soon." I was about to ask what he meant by _moving_, but he continued. "The only way to get around it is through the forest."

"I tried that," I interrupted, finally feeling like I had a bit of an upper hand. "It's fenced in, at least from the east."

"It's fenced in from the west as well," Leon replied, and I felt myself deflate a bit at not having special knowledge. "The crossroads is a bottleneck the police use to catch any criminals that escape from the Goldenrod Jail. There's no way for them to get anywhere without passing through the crossroad at some point, since Olivine is fenced off as well."

Police bottleneck. _Great_. I saw a smug look on his face when I looked over at him. "You know a way past it."

"Of course," he said, a full on smirk appearing. "There's a dead zone in the fence this side of the crossroads. Go through that, cut through the forest, easy. The trees are high around Ecruteak, it's a simple matter of climbing one and dropping down on the other side of the fence." I nodded as we continued walking. "I still haven't invited you to come with me," he noted.

"You have yet to try and stop me," I countered. "Not that it would work."

"Keep telling yourself that," he said, but didn't do anything besides put his hands in his jacket pockets as we continued to navigate the forest.

We delved quickly into the paths that branched off the main one, but didn't find anything of interest. There were a few junior trainers that were hardly worth our time (my Pokemon were ten levels above most of theirs), and we made good time. Or so it seemed to me.

I tried to make small talk a few times, finding the silence of the forest a little odd, but I only succeeded in engaging him when I brought up Team Rocket. He talked about how he hates weak trainers and Pokemon, how he hates to see them hanging around places in general (which is probably why he was very harsh in battles with the trainers in the forest) – it seemed to me as if their very existence offended him. He explained that Team Rocket members were the worst of all, because they think themselves strong and tough when in a group, but the moment you get them alone they're weak and cowardly. Apparently he hates every single last one of them. I couldn't imagine that being the only reason he hated Team Rocket, but I couldn't get anything more out of him once he stopped talking other than the fact that if I got in his way he wouldn't treat my any differently. I laughed and taunted him some more, but to no avail.

When we exited the forest it was dusk. The moon was out and provided a good amount of light to compensate for the quickly setting sun as we made our way down the path. Leon said that the hole in the fence was before Goldenrod, so we wouldn't pass through it – I was silently extremely thankful for that – but there were still trainers to defeat before we reached it. We each took separate challengers, moving ahead to the next opponent once we finished.

I had Rhine out after dealing with a trainer's Sandshrew, and she was floating by my head as I walked down the narrow path between patches of tall grass (this shit was actually really tall, reaching my shoulders). Ahead of me Leon and the guy he was battling were taking up the entire path with their battle (he had his Croconaw out against a Snubbull), so I cut into the grass so that I could walk behind him and avoid getting hit by a stray Water Gun - the damn things didn't seem to like me and had come close to soaking me back in the forest.

I was a few steps into the grass when my foot hit something, and I almost lost my balance. Pushing some grass aside with my hands I saw an Abra curled up at my feet. It looked like it was asleep, until it lifted its head and sat up, lifting its head to look up at me even though its eyes remained closed. I might have found that odd except that it was acting just like Soren when he hadn't had any coffee.

I had read about Abra on the internet, and I knew that at the first sign of hostility they would Teleport away. I caught sight of Rhine out of the corner of my eye and very nearly cried out in happiness. There were moves that could trap an Abra, and my Gastly just happened to know one of them. "Mean Look," I said calmly, even though inside I was anything but. I'd never thought I'd ever get the chance to catch an Abra, but apparently their evolutions were awesome Pokemon. I was already excited at the prospects.

The Abra stayed sitting where it was, but cocked its head to the side – probably from confusion as to why it couldn't Teleport away after Rhine's attack. "Nightshade," I said, hoping the attack would be weak enough to not knock the Abra out. It slumped down against the force of the attack but was still conscious. "Hyponsis," I ordered, a slight shake in my voice as I dug through my bag for the Fast Ball Kurt had given me the day before. The Abra was completely limp now, and I dropped the Pokeball on it. Despite being so weak it gave up quite a struggle before the Pokeball clicked to signify a successful capture.

"Haha!" I cried, reaching down to grab the Pokeball and holding it above my head in triumph. I walked out of the grass (Leon had finished his battle and was battling with the next trainer up ahead, and the guy he had just defeated was still healing his Pokemon) and released the Abra into my arms before pulling an Awakening and Potion out of my cargo pants and administering them. It squirmed slightly in my arm as I put away the empty bottles, but only so that it could wrap its arms around my bicep. I fished out my PokeDex and opened it to see the information on my new Pokemon.

The Abra was a boy, level 10, was somewhat stubborn and had a naughty nature. "You'll get along well with Victor then, Drew," I said, adjusting my grip on him. Rhine floated down in front of me to inspect him, but Drew just tucked his head into the crook of my armpit. After a few moments I realized that he was asleep. "Dude, I just wasted an Awakening on you!" I growled quietly. I quickly read the additional information the PokeDex provided me – Abra need to sleep at least 18 hours per day in order to be able to use its teleportation and telekinetic abilites, but luckily it can still attack in its sleep (though Drew only knew Teleport, which was a bit annoying). They can also read minds and levitate over water. I pocketed my PokeDex before walking over to Leon, who had just finished off another trainer.

His eyebrows twitched when he saw Drew in my arms. I hoped that was jealousy I saw on his face, but I couldn't be sure. Not that I cared. I couldn't wait to level Drew up so that he learned more moves. "News travels fast," he said once I was beside him. We started to walk, the path clear of trainers for now. "That last guy had heard about what happened at Slowpoke Well."

"What did he think happened?" I asked, suddenly worried that maybe Kurt had said something about me. My grip on Drew tightened slightly. If my father knew I had been there-

Speak of the devil. We turned a corner in the path, and there my father was.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes –<strong> I'm probably the first person to ever sacrifice a Pokemon as a plot device. I'm a horrible person.

Now that I have Drew the complete Victor-Gust domination is over. For those that were getting tired of it (I know I was getting tired of writing it). There's only so much I can do with that moveset. Speaking of Draw, I'll be basing his evolution's abilities off of their Bulbapedia entries. I'll also be supposing that evolution doesn't cause him to lose the abilities of his previous forms (because that would be dumb).

And YES I CAUGHT AN ABRA IN A NUZLOCKE SUCK IT~

Oh, and I suppose an apology for the super long wait is in order as well. I didn't have a lot of time or motivation to write during the summer because I was at summer camp, and college can get pretty hectic too. I got thinking about this again during spring break and came up with an (awesome) ending, which got me motivated to get going again because I'll only get to write it if I finish this! But that's still a LONG way off, trust me (as long as I don't die/fail). Lots of fun stuff to come between now and then!


End file.
